ABSTRACT
Our goal in this chapter is to draw implications for classroom practice from the research on morphological instruction. We do this in three sections. In the first, on the background to instruction, we make the logical argument that children and their teachers need to be informed about the fundamental morphological nature of their language, consider the varieties of morphological knowledge and awareness, and briefly review the literature showing that morphological awareness is positively associated with vocabulary, spelling, and reading. In the second section we review the literature on morphological instruction, making use of several recent meta-analyses; we focus specifically on the effects on vocabulary learning, spelling, and reading. We address when morphological instruction should be introduced, for whom such instruction is most suited, and how it should be introduced with respect to other aspects of literacy instruction. In the final section, we draw conclusions for the design of instruction. This final section is firmly based on the existing research, but in its details it is somewhat speculative because detailed studies of many instructional aspects have yet to be performed. Our sense is that the science is solid enough for practice to proceed but that more science is required. Our focus is primarily upon English, the language on which most of the research has been conducted, but we supply examples in French and other languages.
