Article
The effects of morphological and syntactic knowledge on reading comprehension in Spanish speaking children
Author/s | Simpson, Ian C.
Moreno Pérez, Francisco Javier Rodríguez Ortiz, Isabel de los Reyes Valdés Coronel, Marta Saldaña Sage, David |
Department | Universidad de Sevilla. Departamento de Psicología Evolutiva y de la Educación |
Publication Date | 2020-06-29 |
Deposit Date | 2023-11-20 |
Published in |
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Abstract | Reading comprehension is a complex task requiring many underlying skills. Syntactic awareness and morphological awareness are two such skills that have been shown to be related to reading comprehension. However, the majority ... Reading comprehension is a complex task requiring many underlying skills. Syntactic awareness and morphological awareness are two such skills that have been shown to be related to reading comprehension. However, the majority of studies have been carried out in English, and very few have explored these skills in monolingual Spanish speaking children. Here we explored to what extent syntactic awareness and morphological awareness contributed to text comprehension in Spanish. 501 typically developing Spanish speaking 4th graders were assessed on non-verbal intelligence, word and nonword reading, oral vocabulary, morphological and syntactic knowledge, along with reading comprehension ability. After excluding children with poor decoding or low non-verbal intelligence, 234 children were retained for analysis. Multiple linear regression modelling was used to assess the unique contribution of each variable to reading comprehension. As per findings reported in English, syntactic knowledge was a significant predictor of comprehension after controlling for age, gender, non-verbal IQ, word reading and oral vocabulary, as well as morphological knowledge. In contrast, and contrary to results normally reported for English speaking children, morphological knowledge did not explain any variance in reading comprehension beyond that explained by the control variables. These results highlight the important contribution of syntactic knowledge to text comprehension in Spanish speaking children, as well as the importance of undertaking research in languages other than English. |
Funding agencies | Plan Estatal 2013-2016 Excelencia - Proyectos I+D Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (MINECO). España |
Project ID. | PSI2015-65656-P |
Citation | Simpson, I.C., Moreno Pérez, F.J., Rodríguez Ortiz, I.d.l.R., Valdés Coronel, M. y Saldaña Sage, D. (2020). The effects of morphological and syntactic knowledge on reading comprehension in Spanish speaking children. Reading and Writing, 33 (2), 329-348. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-019-09964-5. |
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