The Transfer Effect of Vocabulary and Morphological Awareness Intervention on Narrative Ability in Kindergarteners

Solid knowledge of vocabulary and sensitivity to words’ morphological structure not only facilitates children’s ability to learn and comprehend new words in speech, but it can also be used and transferred to more distal language abilities such as narrative, an important part of children’s academic success. Nonetheless, relatively little research has been conducted in this regard, particularly among children from low socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds. The current study aims to close this gap by examining the effectiveness of a three-month oral interactive storybook reading intervention, focused on cultivating both vocabulary and morphological awareness (MA), in enhancing language abilities in 193 low SES Hebrew-speaking kindergarten children. The results pointed to significant improvements in all examined measures in both groups; however, the intervention group earned significantly better scores than the comparison group. Gaining vocabulary and knowledge about word structure seems to result in better narrative ability; there appears to be a transfer effect. Improvement in narrative ability was significant, with the intervention group showing more rapid change than the comparison group. We suggest that a structured intervention focused on vocabulary and MA can lead not only to a rapid improvement in these abilities but also to a parallel improvement in other language and literacy-related domains, such as narrative and print concepts abilities, even before children formally learn to read.