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Articles

Vol. 10 No. 3 (2007)

Connaissance de la morphologie dérivationnelle chez les francophones et non-francophones de 6 à 8 ans

  • Chantal Roy
  • Marie Labelle
Submitted
October 15, 2012

Abstract

This study focuses on the awareness of derivational morphology by first- and second-grade Francophone and Allophone students. Three tests of morphological awareness which targeted four aspects of this competency (receptive, relational, syntactic, and distributional) were administered to 41 children of the same school, half of whom spoke French at home and half of whom spoke another language. Results compiled for the three tests showed that the two groups differed significantly. With respect to the various test subcomponents, scores for Non-francophones tended to be generally lower than those for Francophones. Of note, however, is the fact that although differences for the receptive and distributional aspects were significant, such was not the case for the relational and syntactic aspects. It was thus concluded that by first grade the morphological awareness skills of all children, including Non-francophones with limited exposure to French, were sufficiently developed to serve as a resource for the teaching of vocabulary.