Effects of orthographic depth on morphological awareness among Silozi – english bilingual 6th graders in Mongu primary schools, Zambia.

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Date
2019
Authors
Mushimbei, Kufamuyeke
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The University of Zambia
Abstract
Orthographic depth affects reading development among beginning readers. Morphology Awareness (MA) is one of the often-overlooked building blocks for reading fluency, reading comprehension, and spelling. Research has demonstrating the importance of strong morphological teaching as early as first and second grade. Where traditionally it has been the focus in middle and high school years. This study investigated the effects of orthographic depth on morphological awareness among sixth graders. The purpose of the study was to determine crosslinguistically how orthographic depth affects (MA) among Silozi and English learners at grade 6 level at Mongu primary school, western province of Zambia. In order to measure their (MA), a test was designed in each of the two languages. The quasi-experimental design in this study aimed at answering production (derivational) and decomposition measurement tasks in both Silozi and English as main tool for the assessment of (MA). The Silozi version was a direct translation of the English one. Each assessment task sheet had two sections with 20 items on decomposition and 18 on derivation. To that end, both versions of the morphological awareness MA tasks, were administered to 120 children who were English – Silozi bilinguals. The quantitative data was analysed using Descriptive and inferential statistics. Therefore, in order to explore differences in performance between the Silozi and English languages, analysis of variance (ANOVA), linear regression and correlations were used. The results of the statistical analysis indicated high levels of reliability for both versions of the MA tasks. Generally, the results show statistically significant variations in MA decomposition and derivational between Silozi and English languages. However, the results revealed that learners performed better in English language than Silozi language.
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Thesis of Master Degree of Education in Educational Psychology
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