Relations between Morphological Awareness and Disciplinary Literacy in Inclusive Social Studies/History Classrooms Among Young People With and Without Learning Difficulties

The aim of this cross-sectional study was to examine the contribution of morphological awareness to the prediction of content-area vocabulary knowledge and understanding of historical terms. The target group consisted of 35 university students with or without learning difficulties (LDs), in Years 1–4, enrolled in a teacher education program. Because there are no standardized measures of morphological awareness and content-area vocabulary for university students in Greek, such measures were developed and validated. The results showed that students’ performance in morphological awareness is related to their performance in understanding historical terms irrespective of student achievement status. This study makes theoretical, empirical, and practical educational contributions. It shows the relationship between morphological awareness and content-area vocabulary as well as establishes the plausibility of a long-lasting link between morphological awareness and historical understanding. In practice, this study contributes valid measures for assessing morphological awareness and historical understanding in Greek at the university level.