Morphological awareness intervention in mainland Chinese school-age children with developmental dyslexia

Research on interventions to improve morphological awareness in children with developmental dyslexia remains sparse. This study examines whether morphological awareness intervention enhances the morphological awareness skills of Chinese children with developmental dyslexia. Thirty elementary school children with developmental dyslexia (9-10 years old) from Beijing, China, participated in this study. Fifteen children were randomly assigned to an experimental group receiving morphological awareness intervention, while another fifteen were assigned to a control group. The intervention comprised ten sessions, each lasting 40 minutes. Children's morphological awareness, including homophone awareness, compounding awareness, radical awareness, and homograph awareness, was assessed before and after the delivery of the intervention. Results showed that the experimental group demonstrated significantly improved morphological awareness, particularly in homophone awareness and compounding awareness, compared to the control group. However, no significant improvements were observed in radical awareness and homograph awareness. The findings provide preliminary evidence suggesting that morphological awareness develops through distinct facets, each exhibiting differing levels of responsiveness to targeted interventions.