Psychometric parameters of derivational morphological awareness

Abstract

Learning how to write requires multiple linguistic-cognitive skills, including phonological and morphological awareness. Given the lack of instruments to assess morphological skills, the aim of this study was to develop and analyze the psychometric parameters of a derivational morphological awareness test. Participants included a total of 111 students attending the 4th grade of elementary school, taking tests of morphological and phonological awareness and vocabulary. Adequate internal consistency reliability coeffiients (alpha coeffiient equal to 0.79) and temporal stability (test-retest correlation equal to 0.81) were found for the Morphological Awareness test. There is evidence of validity based on external variables, since moderate and signifiant correlations were found for measures of morphological and phonological awareness and vocabulary. New studies addressing diverse participants, including comparisons with other potentially relevant variables, are suggested to obtain validity and accuracy of the morphological awareness tests presented.