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Research waiting to happen.

“Play is the highest form of research.”

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Although no original reference has ever been found, this quote is popularly attributed to guys with the cool hair.

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Morphology research runs on small samples, in classrooms, with children who can already read. We are building something different: a product that goes into homes and nurseries, at an age band almost nobody studies, with the instruction built into the object itself.

We are looking for research partners who want to ask what happens when morphological instruction arrives before literacy rather than after it.

Talk to us about research See the evidence

Where the field stands

What is established, and where the gap sits.

The evidence base

Morphological awareness, knowing that words are built from meaningful parts, predicts reading and spelling outcomes across languages and age groups1,2. Instruction in it produces measurable gains, and a systematic review found the largest effects among less able and younger readers3.

Early literacy predicts what comes long after it. The relationship between early reading ability and later academic achievement is one of the more durable findings in the field4,5.

Reading attainment has also fallen: PIRLS 2021 recorded declines in average reading achievement across a majority of participating countries6.

The gap

Almost all of that work sits with children who are already reading, in school settings, with instruction delivered as instruction. The youngest ages in most morphological intervention research are around six or seven.

What happens earlier is much less well described. Children are sensitive to statistical and structural regularities in language long before they decode print, and the years between eighteen months and five are when that sensitivity is at its height. Whether morphological structure can be seeded in that window, through story and play rather than teaching, is an open question.

  1. 1. Carlisle, J. F. (2000). Awareness of the structure and meaning of morphologically complex words: Impact on reading. Reading and Writing, 12, 169 to 190. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1008131926604
  2. 2. Rastle, K. (2019). The place of morphology in learning to read in English. Cortex, 116, 45 to 54. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2018.02.008
  3. 3. Bowers, P. N., Kirby, J. R., & Deacon, S. H. (2010). The effects of morphological instruction on literacy skills: A systematic review of the literature. Review of Educational Research, 80(2), 144 to 179. https://doi.org/10.3102/0034654309359353
  4. 4. Cunningham, A. E., & Stanovich, K. E. (1997). Early reading acquisition and its relation to reading experience and ability 10 years later. Developmental Psychology, 33(6), 934 to 945. https://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.33.6.934
  5. 5. Duncan, G. J., Dowsett, C. J., Claessens, A., Magnuson, K., Huston, A. C., Klebanov, P., Pagani, L. S., Feinstein, L., Engel, M., Brooks-Gunn, J., Sexton, H., Duckworth, K., & Japel, C. (2007). School readiness and later achievement. Developmental Psychology, 43(6), 1428 to 1446. https://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.43.6.1428
  6. 6. Mullis, I. V. S., von Davier, M., Foy, P., Fishbein, B., Reynolds, K. A., & Wry, E. (2023). PIRLS 2021 international results in reading. TIMSS & PIRLS International Study Center, Boston College. https://pirls2021.org/results

An open invitation

We are looking for research partners.

The question we cannot answer alone: does morphological instruction before literacy change what happens after it?

If you work in early literacy, developmental psychology, language acquisition or educational neuroscience, we would like to hear from you. We are particularly interested in:

  • Principal investigators for grant applications requiring an academic partner
  • Groups with instruments suited to pre-literate morphological sensitivity
  • Doctoral or postdoctoral projects that could sit alongside the launch cohort
  • Research organisations and schools in Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada
  • Anyone who thinks the hypothesis is wrong and would enjoy showing us why

Get in touch

Email us about research

Meeting us in person is easier: Frankfurt Buchmesse, Hall 4.0, Stand C88, and Dyslexia Scotland in Glasgow on 31 October. Details here.