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Morphological abilities in Hebrew-speaking gradeschoolers from two socioeconomic backgrounds: An analogy task

Dorit Ravid

Tel Aviv University

Rachel Schiff

Bar Ilan University

Morphology, one of the organizing principles of the mental lexicon, is especially important in Hebrew, where word structure expresses a rich array of semantic notions. The current study focuses on morphological skills in Hebrew-speaking gradeschoolers from high-and low-SES backgrounds: 152 high-SES children and 167 low-SES children (2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th graders) were administered an analogy task, which required reading complex words and eliciting morphological components from them. Results indicate an early and robust ability of Hebrew-speaking children to perform morphological analogies using both root and pattern morphemes. Most of the erroneous responses in both populations involved morphological strategies rather than the associative semantic strategy. However, low-SES children did less well than high-SES children, and the discrepancy between the two populations was consistent throughout gradeschool. This indicates that low-SES gradeschoolers are at a disadvantage in performing morphological analysis, a critical skill in Hebrew literacy.

Key Words: Lexical development • literacy • metalanguage • orthography • reading • Semitic root • Semitic pattern

First Language, Vol. 26, No. 4, 381-402 (2006)
DOI: 10.1177/0142723706064828
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