Modeling Polymorphemic Word Recognition: Exploring Differences Among Children With Early-Emerging and Late-Emerging...

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Developmental Psychology
• Educational Psychology

Background:

• Models for derived polymorphemic word recognition in developing readers, especially those with reading difficulty (RD), are lacking.
• Understanding individual differences in polymorphemic word recognition is essential for targeted interventions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a comprehensive model of individual differences in polymorphemic word recognition at the item level.
• To investigate predictors of polymorphemic word recognition in 5th-grade children, oversampled for RD.

Main Methods:

• Utilized item-response crossed random-effects models to analyze data from 173 fifth-grade children.
• Differentiated between early-emerging and late-emerging subtypes of RD.
• Included predictors at the item-specific, child-level, and word-level.

Main Results:

• Item-specific root word recognition and word familiarity were significant predictors.
• Child-level factors including RD status, morphological awareness, and orthographic choice were influential.
• Word-level characteristics like frequency and root word family size, along with interaction effects, also predicted performance.

Conclusions:

• A multisource individual difference model encompassing item-specific, child-level, and word-level knowledge effectively explains polymorphemic word recognition.
• Findings highlight the importance of considering various factors for understanding and supporting reading development in children with RD.