Evaluation of Morphological Consciousness: A Proposed Typology of Tasks

• Published in: Language awareness Vol. 19; no. 3; pp. 153 - 170
• Main Authors: Berthiaume, Rachel, Besse, Anne-Sophie, Daigle, Daniel
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: French
• Published: 01.08.2010
• ISSN: 0965-8416

The study of the role of morphological consciousness in the development of reading & word recognition has recently experienced an important resurgence. Over the last 15 years, a growing number of studies have suggested that apprentice readers take into account, very early on, the morphological structure of words. What emerges from a review of these studies is that there is no uniformity in relation to the utilization of tasks used to evaluate morphological consciousness. In effect, the manner in which authors qualify the tasks that they use varies greatly from one study to another. The principal objective of this article is to propose a typology regrouping the different tasks of morphological consciousness arising as a function of the mental operation that they seek. In total, ten categories of tasks have been established; these tasks are presented as a function of the names used to designate them, the objectives that are associated with them, the experimental conditions that characterize them, the principal effects studied (age, reading level), & the type of material linked to their utilization. This typology should allow us to clarify & standardize the different tasks of morphological consciousness & facilitate the work of researchers interested in this domain. Adapted from the source document