| Abstract | Derivational morphological knowledge is critical to the acquisition of language and literacy, specifically expressive vocabulary. Current literature suggests that children who are deaf and hard of hearing have deficits in grammatical morphology, but there has not been significant study on derivational morphology in this population. This study aimed to understand derivational morphology in first grade children who are deaf and hard of hearing and how they compare to their peers with typical hearing.
The first-grade children in this study fell into three groups based on hearing status: children with cochlear implants, hearing aids, and children with typical hearing. Participants completed the Test of Morphological Structure to assess their derivational morphological knowledge (Carlisle, 2000).
Based on each group's performance, researchers found that children who are deaf and hard of hearing, specifically those who wear cochlear implants, have significant deficits in derivational morphology. Performance was influenced by audibility of morphemes, shift versus transparent word productions, and age of acquisition of the root word. The present data provides a starting point to examining derivational morphology in children who are deaf and hard of hearing during school aged years. |
