Morphological Ability in Normal and Dyslexic Children

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Abstract
Two tests of morphological ability, the Berry-Talbott Test (Berry & Talbott. 1966) and the Grammatic Closure Test of the Illinois Test of Psycholinguistic Abilities (Kirk, McCarthy, & Kirk 1968), were administered to 20 good readers and 20 dyslexics. The results indicated that the dyslexics were inferior to the good readers on both measures, and that on the Berry-Talbott Test, the complex items accounted for most of the difference between the sample groups. These two measures might be useful in identifying children experiencing difficulty in generating and mastering morphological rules. In addition, an item analysis may provide valuable information for the language therapist. Teachers of reading should also be alert to the possibility that poor readers may be deficient in morphological ability which, in turn, may result in an inefficient use of semantic and syntactic clues provided in the morphology of written language. Through oral language instruction, such children may be helped to internalize complex morphological structures.

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