Tapping Morphological Awareness in ESL/EFL Vocabulary Acquisition 2014 概念迁移与二语习得国际研讨会 Haomin Zhang （张浩敏),Carnegie Mellon University Bilü Zhuang (庄碧绿),南京工业大学 Presentation Outline 1. Theoretical Underpinnings  Facets of vocabulary knowledge  Vocabulary acquisition and SLA  Morphological awareness and vocabulary acquisition 2. Research Design Participants, Instruments, Data collection procedures, Data analysis 3. Results and Discussions THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK Vocabulary Acquisition Vocabulary learning is cognitively demanding, incorporating the ability to map meanings and graphic forms, the ability to embed words into sentential and discourse structures, and the ability to apply words to the real world. Facets of Vocabulary Knowledge Oral vocabulary vs. Print vocabulary (Zhang, 2014, ongoing project) Vocabulary breadth vs. Vocabulary depth (Nagy & Herman, 1987; Meara, 1996; Read, 2000; Qian, 1999) Vocabulary breadth vs. Vocabulary depth Vocabulary knowledge does not only refer to the ability to map form onto word meanings but the deep and sufficient understandings of a word’s properties as well (Anderson & Freebody, 1981; Nation, 2001; Koda, 2005; Schmitt, 2010). Morphological Awareness Morphology: inflectional morphology (e.g., third-person -s)+ derivational morphology (e.g., prefixes: dis- un-)+ compounding morphology (e.g., class+room) Morphological Awareness Morphological awareness (MA) is the knowledge a speaker has about the mapping of sound to meaning in a given language and his/her understanding of the word formation rules that guide the combination of morphemes (Kuo & Anderson, 2006). Morphological awareness was defined as “the awareness of morphemic structures of words and the ability to reflect on and manipulate that structure” (Carlisle, 1995, p.194). Koda (2000) argues that there are two layers of morphological awareness: (1) the ability to recognize and extract sub-lexical morphemic information; (2) the ability to understand morphemic structures and their relationships. Morphological Awareness Few studies have investigated the relationship between inflectional performance and reading acquisition beyond the second grade (Kuo & Anderson, 2006) in either English or Chinese, since acquisition of major inflectional structures is completed by early elementary grades (e.g., Berko, 1958; Anisfeld & Tucker, 1968). Derivational awareness and compound awareness are my core constructs. Morphological Awareness and Vocabulary In the past decade, reading psychologists have shown tremendous interest in the effect of morphological awareness on vocabulary acquisition and reading ability (e.g., Ku & Anderson, 2003; Chen et al., 2009; Kieffer & Lesaux, 2012). Morphological awareness improved with grade level and was significantly related to children’s vocabulary and reading acquisition (Ku & Anderson, 2003). Morphological Awareness and Vocabulary (cont’d) Zhang and Koda (2014) examined Chinese-English biliteracy acquisition among Chinese fifth and sixth graders. Both compound awareness and derivational awareness independently and significantly predicted bilingual vocabulary and reading comprehension. What’s interesting and new? L1 speakers, young L2 learners---adult L2 learners Single view of vocabulary ----different facets of vocabulary knowledge (including vocabulary breadth and vocabulary depth) Univariate---multivariate: interconnected relationships among different variables/constructs Research Hypothesis and Path Model Does morphological awareness contribute to vocabulary knowledge? To be more specific, 1. Does English derivational awareness or compound awareness contribute to English vocabulary breadth? 2. Does English derivational awareness or compound awareness contribute to English vocabulary depth? Testing Model RESEARCH DESIGN Participants 73 adult ESL learners at a university in Nanjing (freshman and sophomore) who will study abroad in U.K. They have English oral communication, reading and writing classes in a weekly basis. Instruments Morphological Awareness: derivational morphology and compounding morphology 2 tasks: morpheme discrimination and morpheme recognition task(Mahony, 1994; Tyler & Nagy, 1989; Ku & Anderson, 2003) Morpheme Discrimination: Mushroom, bedroom, bathroom Morpheme Recognition: fry friday ( ) sun sunny ( ) pen penny ( ) 1. postcard postpone postman 2. playback playground playroom 3. changeable readable syllable 4. dislike display disagree 5. leadership friendship spaceship 6. estimate classmate roommate 7. highlight starlight sunlight 8. takeout without checkout 9. redwood firewood Hollywood 10. airbag airline airport 11. overload overheat overall 12. footstep footnote footprint 13. shoulder farmer teacher 14. headache headline headphone 15. hallway doorway anyway 16. freeman freedom freezing 17. undo uncle unlock 18. horseback throwback feedback 19. reuse retire recycle 20. policeman fireman snowman 1. birth birthday 3. pea peace YES NO YES NO 5. straw strawberry 7. hand handsome YES NO 9. corn corner YES NO 11. after afternoon 13. too tooth 15. fire YES NO YES NO YES NO fireplace YES NO 17. ill illegal YES NO 19. art artist YES NO 2. maintain maintenance YES NO 4. butter butterfly YES NO 6. dust industry YES NO 8. bake bakery 10. man many YES NO YES NO 12. dance dancer YES NO 14. tell intellect YES NO 16. preside president YES NO 18. heal YES NO health 20. dirt dirty YES NO Instruments (cont’d) Vocabulary Knowledge: vocabulary breadth and vocabulary depth 2 tasks: Vocabulary breadth: Vocabulary Level Test (VLT) (Nation, 2001) Vocabulary depth: Word Associates Test (WAT) (Read, 1994) Data Collection Procedures Format: paper-and-pencil test Administration: the test was administered in a class session (20-30 students). Time allotment: 60-80 minutes. Validity: tasks were randomized and counterbalanced. Data Analysis Multivariate Path Analysis Preliminary analysis (correlations and regressions) Model fit Analysis of path routes RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Descriptive Statistics and Correlations Measure Minimum Maximum M SD Derivational Awareness (20) 12 19 16.51 1.48 Compound Awareness (20) 12 20 17.18 1.54 Vocabulary Breadth (60) 26 53 38.65 5.48 Vocabulary Depth (80) 43 68 57.46 4.98 Measure 1 2 3 4 1. Derivational Awareness - 2. Compound Awareness .39** - 3. Vocabulary Breadth .55*** .41*** - 4. Vocabulary Depth .45*** .38** .40** - Model Testing Path Analysis Discussions 1. In general, morphological awareness significantly predicts both vocabulary breadth and vocabulary depth. 2. Cross-linguistic differences (in Chinese and English) English derivational awareness plays a more critical role in L2 vocabulary acquisition. Future directions Cross-linguistic transfer of morphological awareness Extension to more constructs of meaning inference/construction (e.g., lexical inferencing and reading comprehension) More in-depth multivariate analysis (e.g., Structural Equation Modelling) Q&A