Morphology in children’s books, and what it means for learning
Abstract Breaking down complex words into smaller meaningful units (e.g., unhappy = un- + happy), known as morphemes, is vital for skilled reading as it allows readers to rapidly compute word meanings. There is agreement that children rely on reading experience to acquire morphological knowledge in...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Nature Portfolio
2025-05-01
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| Series: | npj Science of Learning |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41539-025-00313-6 |
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| author | Maria Korochkina Kathleen Rastle |
| author_facet | Maria Korochkina Kathleen Rastle |
| author_sort | Maria Korochkina |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Breaking down complex words into smaller meaningful units (e.g., unhappy = un- + happy), known as morphemes, is vital for skilled reading as it allows readers to rapidly compute word meanings. There is agreement that children rely on reading experience to acquire morphological knowledge in English; however, the nature of this experience has remained unclear. We quantify the morphological information in 1200 popular children’s books and offer the first concrete description of how readers may learn affix morphemes through real-life text input. Our account considers the realities of morpheme presentation in natural language, such as the low number of distinct words in which affixes appear and the fact that their identification often requires specialised linguistic knowledge. This theory further accounts for the challenge posed by spelling patterns that may lead to incorrect morphological parsing. We conclude by exploring the implications of our findings for instructional programmes in morphology. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-15eae730b502451f918fab78df63ebbf |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 2056-7936 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-05-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | npj Science of Learning |
| spelling | doaj-art-15eae730b502451f918fab78df63ebbf2025-08-20T02:15:11ZengNature Portfolionpj Science of Learning2056-79362025-05-0110111610.1038/s41539-025-00313-6Morphology in children’s books, and what it means for learningMaria Korochkina0Kathleen Rastle1Department of Psychology, Royal Holloway, University of LondonDepartment of Psychology, Royal Holloway, University of LondonAbstract Breaking down complex words into smaller meaningful units (e.g., unhappy = un- + happy), known as morphemes, is vital for skilled reading as it allows readers to rapidly compute word meanings. There is agreement that children rely on reading experience to acquire morphological knowledge in English; however, the nature of this experience has remained unclear. We quantify the morphological information in 1200 popular children’s books and offer the first concrete description of how readers may learn affix morphemes through real-life text input. Our account considers the realities of morpheme presentation in natural language, such as the low number of distinct words in which affixes appear and the fact that their identification often requires specialised linguistic knowledge. This theory further accounts for the challenge posed by spelling patterns that may lead to incorrect morphological parsing. We conclude by exploring the implications of our findings for instructional programmes in morphology.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41539-025-00313-6 |
| spellingShingle | Maria Korochkina Kathleen Rastle Morphology in children’s books, and what it means for learning npj Science of Learning |
| title | Morphology in children’s books, and what it means for learning |
| title_full | Morphology in children’s books, and what it means for learning |
| title_fullStr | Morphology in children’s books, and what it means for learning |
| title_full_unstemmed | Morphology in children’s books, and what it means for learning |
| title_short | Morphology in children’s books, and what it means for learning |
| title_sort | morphology in children s books and what it means for learning |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41539-025-00313-6 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT mariakorochkina morphologyinchildrensbooksandwhatitmeansforlearning AT kathleenrastle morphologyinchildrensbooksandwhatitmeansforlearning |