Studi sullo sviluppo della conoscenza della morfologia derivazionale.

A great proportion of the new or unfamiliar words that children encounter when reading texts during the elementary school are morphologically complex, i.e., they are formed of a root and a derivational affix (e.g., pestaggio; vetreria). Several studies have shown that children’s knowledge of derivational morphology is very useful for vocabulary learning and growth. Children’s ability of analyzing morphologically derived words has a significant increase between grades 3 and 4. Several variables (e.g., the phonological and semantic transparency of the derived word relative to its base word, and the suffix’ frequency and productivity) affect comprehension and learning of morphologically derived words. Morphological awareness is a good predictor of reading and comprehension abilities