Recently,there has been a growing concern about low literacy performance levels among children and adolescents(Deshler&Hock,2007).According to the latest National Assessment of Educational Progress(NAEP)data released in 2007,34%of fourth-graders are classified as reading below baseline(Lee,Grigg,&Donahue,2007).The rate is even worse for children with learning disabilities(MD).Thus,improving literacy performance for these children was a primary concern for both teachers and researchers.Much of the current research focuses on the role of phonological instruction in improving literacy performance,however this present study explores a different choice.Since researchers have found data on children with dyslexia using morphology as a compensatory strategy in reading(Casalis,Colé,&Sopo,2004),it is important to investigate morphological interventions as a means of improving literacy performance in children with learning/reading difficulties,troubled readers and poor spelling.Although morphological awareness is more related to phonology or syntax than spelling and reading(Siegel,2008),it has received less attention from researchers and educators(Nunes,Bryant,Hurry,&Pretzlik,2006).For example,morphological instruction was not considered in the comprehensive review of the National Reading Panel published in 2000(National Institute of Child Health and Human Development,2000).With increased interest in morphological teaching,two compositions examining morphological teaching have been published in the last two years.However,they summarized the findings of the study more in a narrative rather than a statistical way.A recent synthesis by Reed(2008)examined seven published studies on morphological instruction and examined the effect of morphological instruction on three reading outcomes,including word recognition,spelling,and vocabulary development.
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