The Role of Morphology and Sentence Context in Word Processing for Adults With Low Literacy.

This article investigates how morphological complexity, root word frequency, and sentence context strength influence word processing in adults with low literacy, focusing on the participant-level variable of vocabulary depth. The study found that adults with higher vocabulary depth processed morphologically complex words with high-frequency roots more quickly and effectively used supportive sentence context than those with lower vocabulary depth, while vocabulary breadth showed no significant effect. Eye-tracking data revealed that vocabulary depth moderates how these adults integrate word-level and sentence-level information during reading, with higher-depth readers better able to decompose complex words and utilize context cues. These findings highlight the importance of vocabulary depth and morphological awareness in reading comprehension for adults with low literacy and suggest that instructional approaches emphasizing morphological analysis and contextual understanding may enhance literacy development.