The role of morphological awareness in reading and spelling performance

Objective: Although morphological awareness (MA) is known to be important for literacy acquisition, there are few studies - and no tests - to assess it in the German language.This study evaluates the relationship between MA and three different reading measures as well as spelling and phonological awareness (PA) in German children. Method: To assess MA, we developed an MA screening instrument. We then assessed reading speed, fluency, pseudoword decoding, spelling, MA, and PA of 172 2nd-graders. Results: MA correlated significantly with the three reading measures as well as spelling and PA, and it explained significant variance of reading speed, fluency, and spelling both in addition to PA and on its own. MA did not account for additional variance of pseudoword decoding. The variance explained by MA was significant for reading and for spelling disorders. Conclusions: The results demonstrate that MA is very important also for German literacy acquisition. Including MA is a promising approach not only for spelling, but also for reading interventions.