Methodological Considerations in Morphological Processing Research

Zhaohong Wu is Assistant Professor of Linguistics in the School of English and International Studies, Beijing Foreign Studies University. She holds a PhD in Linguistics from University of Pittsburgh, USA. Her research interests are in psycholinguistics and second-language acquisition. Her current research focuses on the comparison between L1 and advanced L2 morphological processing to understand whether native speakers and advanced L2 learners process morphologically complex words in qualitatively the same way. She has published in journals such as Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, Second Language Research, and The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America.

Contents: Introduction: Different Approaches to Morphology – Different Accounts of Morphological Processing in the L1 Psycholinguistic Literature – Research Methods Employed in the L1 and L2 Morphological Processing Literature – Controversies in the L2 Morphological Processing Literature – Overview of the Book – Material-and Procedure-Related Factors in L1 and L2 Morphological Processing: The Material-Related Factors of Frequency – The Material-Related Factors of Length – The Material-Related Factors of Neighborhood Size (or Density) and Neighborhood Frequency – The Material-Related Factors of Morphological Family – The Material-Related Semantic Factors – The Material-Related Factor of Stem Homograph – The Material-Related Factors of Affix Characteristics – The Material-Related Factor of Presentation Context (Words in Isolation vs. Words in Context) – The Material-Related Factor of Grammatical Class – The Material-Related Factor of Prime Lexicality – The Material-Related Factor of Boundness of the Stem (Free vs. Bound) – The Material-Related Factor of Concreteness – The Material-Related Factor of Stem Priming vs. Suffix Priming – The Material-Related Factor of Stem Alternation – The Material-Related Factor of Conditional Root Uniqueness Point (CRUP) for Prefixed Words – The Material-Related Factor of Relatedness Proportion – The Material-Related Factor of Orthographic Familiarity – The Material-Related Factor of Word Formation Type – The Material-Related Factor of the Spelling-Meaning Consistency of Prefixes – The Material-Related Factor of Linearity and Structural Complexity of Derivations – The Material-Related Factor of Linear vs. Structural Distance on L2 (in)sensitivity to Agreement Violations – The Material-Related Factor of the Paradigmatic Effect of Entropy – The Material-Related Factors That Are Uniquely Relevant to Compound Processing – The Procedure-Related Factors That Could Possibly Affect Morphological Processing – Participant Individual-Level Differences in L1 and L2 Morphological Processing: Cognition-Related Individual Differences – Experience-Related Individual Differences – Age-Related Individual Differences – Participant Group-Level Differences in L1 and L2 Morphological Processing: Participant Group-Level Differences in L1 Morphology – Participant Group-Level Differences in L1 Orthography and Writing System – Participant Group-Level Differences in L1 Prosodic Structure or L1 Phonology – Participant Group-Level Differences in Sex – Participant Group-Level Differences in Handedness – General Discussions and Implications: A Brief Summary of Modulating Factors in Morphological Processing – Educational Implications.