‘Languages connect us’: Investigating the impact of explicit instruction in English derivational morphology and etymology on Welsh pupils’ word decoding and comprehension skills

Bristow, Ellen 2023. ‘Languages connect us’: Investigating the impact of explicit instruction in English derivational morphology and etymology on Welsh pupils’ word decoding and comprehension skills. PhD Thesis, Cardiff University. Item availability restricted.

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Abstract

This thesis investigates whether explicit instruction in English morphology and etymology could support the development of Welsh children’s word decoding and comprehension skills, particularly as they transition from primary to secondary school. In September 2022, a new Curriculum for Wales was implemented in primary and secondary schools. The new curriculum takes a more holistic approach to English language and literacy education and, for the first time, names morphology and etymology as key skills that learners need to develop. However, currently there is a lack of understanding about how teachers in Wales may support the development of children’s metalinguistic skills—namely, morphological and etymological awareness. Furthermore, only recently have teachers and researchers become aware that, part of the challenge facing a learner at the primary to secondary school transition, is linguistic. To address this research gap, I designed a six-week online vocabulary skills development programme. The programme—which was conducted online while COVID-19 restrictions were still in place—comprised a series of lessons, instructional videos and interactive tasks that centred on key aspects of English derivational morphology and English etymology. I collected data from 446 learners in years 5, 6, 7 and 8 in 11 schools across Wales. Participants were assigned to the control group (n = 303) or the intervention group (n = 143). All participants completed a pre-intervention questionnaire which collected data about school year groups, mono/bi/multilingual English language status, languages spoken, out-of-school reading habits and levels of school English lesson enjoyment. The intervention group then completed a pre-intervention ‘word detectives’ challenge, four weeks of explicit morphology and etymology teaching, and a post-intervention ‘word detectives’ challenge. The control group completed the same pre-intervention challenge, followed by the post-intervention challenge a week later. To ensure equal opportunities for learning, after they had completed the post-intervention challenge, the control group did complete the tutorial aspects of the vocabulary skills development programme. However, no data was collected from the control group tutorials. The results from the pre-intervention challenge indicated that overall, learners in Wales started the study with fairly high levels of morphological awareness. Conversely, levels of etymological awareness were notably lower. To determine whether the explicit instruction was successful with developing learners’ morphological awareness and etymological awareness, I used mixed-effects models to analyse the post-intervention challenge results. The statistical ii modelling showed that participating in the intervention was not significantly more likely to increase participants’ morphological or etymological awareness challenge scores. The mixed effects models also showed that some external factors, such as enjoyment of school English lessons and out-of-school reading habits, were significant predictors of morphological awareness outcome. Conversely, no external factors were significant predictors for the etymological awareness results. However, analysis of individual results demonstrates that the statistical modelling does not account for the nuances of the dataset. Many of the intervention group participants’ morphological and etymological awareness scores did increase from the first to the second challenge. In particular, the word decomposition, word derivation and instruction in bound Romance- and Ancient Greek-rooted word parts seemed to support learners’ metalinguistic skills development. Additionally, the mixed-effects model showed that the intervention group participants were significantly more likely to have an etymological awareness score that was higher in the post-intervention challenge than in the pre-intervention challenge. Thematic analyses of participants’ written feedback helped to explain why some of the quantitative results may have occurred, and demonstrated that other factors, such as enjoyment of the learning, confidence, novelty of the learning topics, perceptions of English as a language, and the setting and environment all require careful consideration in the vocabulary skills development classroom. Overall, this research concludes that explicit instruction in English morphology and etymology does have a place in Wales’s English language and literacy classrooms. Based on the study results and critical discussions, it recommends that increasing Welsh pupils’ levels of morphological awareness and etymological awareness could support the development of key word decoding and comprehension skills.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Date Type:	Completion
Status:	Unpublished
Schools:	English, Communication and Philosophy
Subjects:	P Language and Literature > PE English
Funders:	ESRC
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	8 November 2023
Last Modified:	09 Nov 2023 11:06
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/163731

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