The contribution of morphological awareness to reading comprehension among EFL college students: assessing the applicability of the morphological pathway framework

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Published in:Asian-Pacific Journal of Second and Foreign Language Education vol. 10, no. 1 (Dec 2025), p. 48
Main Author: Altheneyan, Aseel
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Springer Nature B.V.
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022 |a 2363-5169 
024 7 |a 10.1186/s40862-025-00354-9  |2 doi 
035 |a 3262929485 
045 2 |b d20251201  |b d20251231 
100 1 |a Altheneyan, Aseel  |u King Saud University, Deanship of Common First Year, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (GRID:grid.56302.32) (ISNI:0000 0004 1773 5396) 
245 1 |a The contribution of morphological awareness to reading comprehension among EFL college students: assessing the applicability of the morphological pathway framework 
260 |b Springer Nature B.V.  |c Dec 2025 
513 |a Journal Article 
520 3 |a The contribution of morphological knowledge to literacy skills has been well-established in previous research. Discrepancies have been detected in how such influence is realized among different populations. This study aimed to examine the applicability of the morphological pathway framework among EFL learners, focusing on morphosemantic knowledge. To achieve this aim, data were collected over the course of three weeks from 101 college-level students taking an intensive English language course. A battery of paper-based and computer-based tests was used to measure learners’ morphosemantic knowledge, morphological-based lexical inferencing, morphological decomposition ability, vocabulary size, and reading comprehension. The study revealed that while morphological-based lexical inferencing greatly mediated the effect of morphosemantic knowledge on reading comprehension, morphological decomposition did not account for any difference. Structural equation modeling analysis uncovered a different processing mechanism, where morphological decomposition facilitates lexical inferencing rather than reading comprehension. The analysis also revealed that the contributions of morphosemantic knowledge and processing were highly dependent on lexical processes, whereby vocabulary mediated the effect of morphosemantic knowledge and significantly assisted in lexical disambiguation. This indicates that L1 and L2 readers follow different morphological processing routes during reading. The findings have implications for morphology and reading instruction in the EFL context. 
653 |a Reading comprehension 
653 |a Literacy 
653 |a Lexical processing 
653 |a Knowledge 
653 |a Compositionality 
653 |a College students 
653 |a Second language reading instruction 
653 |a Decomposition 
653 |a English as a second language 
653 |a Skills 
653 |a Vocabulary size 
653 |a Second language reading 
653 |a Morphological processing 
653 |a Information sources 
653 |a Morphology 
653 |a English as a second language instruction 
653 |a Semantics 
653 |a Comprehension 
653 |a Literacy skills 
653 |a English language 
653 |a Teaching 
653 |a Structural equation modeling 
653 |a Vocabulary 
653 |a Discrepancies 
653 |a Morphemes 
653 |a Inferences 
653 |a Cognitive Processes 
653 |a Word Processing 
653 |a Reading Fluency 
653 |a English (Second Language) 
653 |a Vocabulary Skills 
653 |a Syntax 
653 |a Reading Processes 
653 |a Student Evaluation 
653 |a English Learners 
653 |a Language Processing 
653 |a Lexicology 
653 |a Reading Ability 
773 0 |t Asian-Pacific Journal of Second and Foreign Language Education  |g vol. 10, no. 1 (Dec 2025), p. 48 
786 0 |d ProQuest  |t Education Database 
856 4 1 |3 Citation/Abstract  |u https://www.proquest.com/docview/3262929485/abstract/embedded/6A8EOT78XXH2IG52?source=fedsrch 
856 4 0 |3 Full Text  |u https://www.proquest.com/docview/3262929485/fulltext/embedded/6A8EOT78XXH2IG52?source=fedsrch 
856 4 0 |3 Full Text - PDF  |u https://www.proquest.com/docview/3262929485/fulltextPDF/embedded/6A8EOT78XXH2IG52?source=fedsrch