Does Training with Structured Input Improve Perception and Comprehension of Bound Morphemes in Children Who Are Deaf or Hard-of-Hearing?

Children who are deaf or hard-of-hearing (D/HH) are delayed in many aspects of language development, including acquisition of morphosyntax. One linguistic task that is particularly difficult for children who are D/HH is the acquisition of word-final bound morphemes. In this study, we adopted a training approach from second language (L2) acquisition, referred to as structured input, that has been successful in training a number of grammatical forms in L2 learners. Seventy-seven children who were D/HH and between the ages of 5 and 12 years took part in a 16-session training program designed to improve both perception and comprehension of four bound morphemes: contractions, plurals, past tense, and possessives. In addition, we used a recently developed assessment procedure to obtain independent measures of perception and comprehension. Perception scores at baseline (prior to training) all exceeded 80% and there were small, but nonsignificant, gains in perception following training. In contrast, baseline comprehension measures for three of the four bound morphemes (all except contractions) were below ceiling, and training produced significant gains in all three of these bound morphemes. Implications for training acquisition of morphosyntactic structures and developing personalized audiological rehabilitation protocols are discussed.