The present study was realised during the first phase of teachers‘ vocational training in Germany and seeks to observe the effects of morphological instruction in a class of the qualification level. A diagnostic test that was carried out based on some spelling mistakes in writing tasks during the first month of the training, suggested that learners lacked knowledge in some basic spelling changes in the area of derivational morphology. Also, when they were asked to draw lines between morphemes in some words, in order to control to what extent they can identify word components the degree of uncertainty was high. Given the fact that no explicit instruction on morphology ever took place in the class, it was decided to observe whether learners of higher classes can benefit from a morphological instruction and what conclusions can be drawn from the results.
Table of Contents
1 Introduction
1.1 Interest in the current study
1.2 Morphology in the curriculum
2 Theoretical Background
2.1 The importance of morphological awareness
2.2 Morphology and the lexicon
2.3 Morphology in the higher EFL class
3 Research Questions
4 Methodology
4.1 Participants
4.2 The diagnostic test
4.3 Introduced morphological aspects
4.4 Procedure
5 Results
5.1 The diagnostic test
5.2 The final test
5.3 The questionnaire
6 Conclusion
Research Objectives and Core Themes
This study investigates the efficacy of morphological instruction for advanced learners of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in a German secondary school setting, specifically examining whether short-term intervention improves learners' understanding of word formation and spelling conventions.
- Effects of explicit morphological instruction on spelling and word recognition.
- Challenges in identifying morphemic boundaries in complex vocabulary.
- Role of morphological awareness in secondary level English language acquisition.
- Impact of teaching interventions on student motivation and learning interest.
- Comparison of diagnostic and final assessment performance regarding morphological structures.
Excerpt from the Book
2.2 MORPHOLOGY AND THE MENTAL LEXICON
Morphology is the branch of grammar that focuses on word formation, word structures and the coinage of new words through analysis of their morphemes, the smallest functioning units that carry a meaning. The importance of morphological awareness lies in enabling learners to observe that a morphologically complex word consists of many smaller components with meaning. Since meaning is a key aspect in knowing and understanding, morphology plays a crucial role in research regarding how words and meanings are represented in our mental lexicon, which is “the stored mental representation of what we know about the lexical items in our language.” According to the most discussed theories, derivational words are not enlisted alphabetically as full words like in written dictionaries (Full Listing Hypothesis), but are rather decomposed in morphemes (Decompositional Theory) for reasons of economy of storage and for avoiding redundancy in the representation. The latter theory concerns mainly nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs, due to that they are examples of word classes where a morphologically high complexity is often observed. In particular, this complexity involves the presence of various morpheme types like roots, prefixes and suffixes. A root carries the central meaning of a word and is defined as “the base form of a word which cannot be further analysed without total loss of identity.” For example, in the word impressions the root is press, because this is the least that can remain when all other elements, called affixes, are removed. The affixes that precede the root are called prefixes (im-), whereas those that follow the root are called suffixes (-ion, -s). One can observe, too, that the core meaning of ‘to press’ is metaphorically preserved in impression as ‘something pressed in our mind or memory.’ In this example with the prefix im- it is important to know that the letter m results from a phonetic and orthographic change of in- when the anteceding consonant is labial, i.e. pronounced with the lips.
Summary of Chapters
1 Introduction: This chapter introduces the motivation for the study, highlighting the lack of explicit morphological instruction in existing school curricula.
2 Theoretical Background: This section covers the core concepts of morphological awareness, the mental lexicon, and the specific necessity for morphological teaching in higher EFL education.
3 Research Questions: This chapter defines the core inquiries concerning the effectiveness of suffix-based morphological instruction and student evaluation of the experiment.
4 Methodology: This section details the participant demographics, the structure of the training sessions, and the diagnostic and control test procedures.
5 Results: This chapter presents the data gathered from tests and questionnaires, comparing diagnostic baseline performance with final post-instruction results.
6 Conclusion: The final chapter summarizes the findings, suggesting that while instruction positively impacts spelling, further research is needed to improve long-term engagement.
Keywords
Morphology, Morphological Awareness, EFL Classroom, Mental Lexicon, Word Formation, Suffixation, Orthography, Spelling, Secondary Education, Language Acquisition, Morphemes, Linguistic Awareness, Pedagogical Intervention, Vocabulary Instruction, Language Learners.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the primary focus of this study?
The study examines the impact of explicit morphological instruction on advanced German EFL learners, focusing on their ability to understand word formation and spelling patterns.
What are the central themes discussed in this work?
The work explores morphological awareness, the mental lexicon, the role of morphology in EFL curricula, and the practical application of teaching morphemic analysis.
What is the main research objective?
The objective is to determine if short-term morphological training helps students better identify word components and master orthographic changes associated with suffixation.
Which scientific method is employed?
The author uses an empirical study approach, comparing diagnostic pre-test results with post-test performance after four targeted training sessions, supplemented by student questionnaires.
What does the main body of the work cover?
It covers theoretical foundations, detailed methodology of four instructional sessions focusing on roots, prefixes, and suffixes, and an analysis of student performance results.
Which keywords characterize this research?
Key terms include morphology, morphological awareness, EFL classroom, mental lexicon, and language acquisition.
Why are morphemic boundaries difficult for students to identify?
The study suggests that learners often confuse morphological parsing with syllabification and lack sufficient exposure to the etymological components of English words.
What do the results suggest about the future of morphology in the classroom?
While students generally found the material interesting, they felt that morphology should be introduced in earlier grades, as it is difficult to change established language learning habits at an advanced level.
- Quote paper
- Dipl. Archäologe / B. Ed. Englisch-Latein Michail Barkas (Author), 2018, The effects of morphological instruction in the higher EFL classroom, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.hausarbeiten.de/document/428227
