Morphological awareness intervention in children with Developmental Language Disorder: A systematic review

Area of Science:

• Linguistics
• Developmental Psychology
• Speech-Language Pathology

Background:

• Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) affects language acquisition in children.
• Morphological awareness is crucial for language development and literacy.
• Interventions targeting morphological awareness may benefit children with DLD.

Purpose of the Study:

• To systematically review the effectiveness of morphological awareness interventions for children aged 3-12 with DLD.
• To identify instructional characteristics of effective morphological awareness interventions.
• To synthesize evidence on intervention outcomes and instructional components.

Main Methods:

• Systematic literature search following PRISMA guidelines across five databases.
• Inclusion of ten studies published between 1980 and 2024.
• Synthesis of intervention outcomes and features using the Dose Form Framework.

Main Results:

• Four studies reported statistically significant improvements in morphological awareness with large effect sizes.
• Limited evidence due to methodological rigor and outcome disaggregation issues.
• Explicit, clinician-directed instruction targeting affix identification and word construction showed the strongest evidence.

Conclusions:

• Promising but limited evidence supports morphological awareness interventions for DLD.
• High-quality studies with detailed reporting and consistent diagnostics are needed.
• Structured, explicit instruction is a critical feature for effective interventions.