The Impact of Students’ Morphological Awareness: Systematic Literature Review

In the Latvian education system and society, concerns are growing about students’ language competencies, including grammar. The relevance of these problems is also reflected in societal concerns about insufficient grammar skills and a lack of systematicity in the teaching content. Grammar is a system that includes word formation, morphology and syntax. Mastery of the grammatical systems of native languages is one of the most critical conditions for fully developing a child’s/scholar’s speech and mental abilities; however, it is essential to understand how precisely the comprehension of some regions of grammar influences language usage. Therefore, the research question is – how is “morphological awareness” defined in international literature and what domains of native language use are impacted by it? A systematic literature analysis, with a focus on global perspectives, was conducted to answer this question. The study aimed to clarify the explanation of morphological awareness in international literature (comparing it to what is used in Latvian grammar) and determine its role in using the native language. A comprehensive review of studies from 2003 to 2024 published in the Scopus database was conducted for this study. The material was selected using the keywords “morphological awareness/competence”. Using strict inclusion (articles published between year 2003 and 2024, articles in English) and exclusion criteria (not related to native language acquisition, language not belonging to the Indo-European language family, not focusing on school-aged children, focusing only on students with learning disabilities), 23 articles (from the USA, the UK, Brazil, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, Canada, Norway, Germany, Netherlands) on morphological awareness were selected. These articles were then meticulously analysed, ensuring a thorough and reliable research process, using thematic analysis, focusing on their primary results and conclusions. The article summarises the research results on language domains influenced by morphology and explains the use of morphological awareness in foreign scientific literature. The term mentioned in the analysed studies is primarily related to identifying word composition and realising the meanings of morphemes. Analysing studies on students’ morphological awareness in several Indo-European language families (English, German, French, Dutch, Portuguese, Spanish, and Norwegian), it is concluded that it significantly affects reading comprehension, writing, vocabulary, and pronunciation. Its importance is particularly significant in languages with deep orthography.