Vocabulary Tricks: Effects of Instruction in Morphology and Context on Fifth-Grade Students’Ability to Derive and Infer Word Meanings

Abstract

This quasi-experimental study compared the effects of morphemic and contextual analysis instruction (MC) with the effects of textbook vocabulary instruction (TV) that was integrated into social studies textbook lessons. The participants were 157 students in eight fifth-grade classrooms. The results indicated that (a) TV students were more successful at learning textbook vocabulary; (b) MC students were more successful at inferring the meanings of novel affixed words; (c) MC students were more successful at inferring the meanings of morphologically and contextually decipherable words on a delayed test but not on an immediate test; and (d) the groups did not differ on a comprehension measure or a social studies learning measure. The results were interpreted as support for teaching specific vocabulary and morphemic analysis, with some evidence for the efficacy of teaching contextual analysis.