The crosslinguistic role of morphological awareness in reading: a state-of-the-art review

Abstract

Language learners and developing bilinguals may draw on morphological awareness from one language when reading in another, and the past two decades have seen a surge in research investigating when this occurs, and which factors affect it. This master’s thesis provides a review of the literature on the topic to date. I begin by describing the theoretical background and methodological approaches used in morphological awareness research, followed by an overview of findings on the development of morphological awareness and similarities and differences in its role in reading in L1 and L2. I then turn to morphological awareness transfer in reading, synthesizing recent research findings, before what results show us about the nature of morphological awareness and factors which have been identified as affecting its transfer during reading. This review shows that, while language characteristics, typological distance, L1 literacy skills, L2 knowledge and print exposure are all important, a series of theoretical and methodological issues limit the generalizability of findings to date. I conclude by providing recommendations for future research on the topic.