Developing EFL learners’ morphological awareness: Instructional effect, teachability of affixes, and learners’ perception

Abstract

Abstract Morphological instruction has been proved to be facilitative of second language learners’ vocabulary learning. However, studies on the effect of teaching affixes on Chinese EFL learners’ vocabulary learning were relatively less explored. Therefore, this study was aimed at investigating the effect of teaching six affixes on Chinese EFL learners’ vocabulary learning, the teachability of affixes, and the learners’ perception toward the instruction. The participants were 40 seventh-graders from two intact classes in a junior high school in southern Taiwan. One class of 20 students served as the control group, and the other class of 20 students was assigned as the experimental group to receive the six-session training of affixes. Instruments were a morpheme identification task, a vocabulary translation test, students’ learning journals, and a questionnaire of perception toward the instruction. The results indicated the positive effect of instruction on the experimental group’s receptive learning of the affixes. In addition, the data also showed the students’ positive perception toward morphological instruction. This study concluded with theoretical implications for future studies and pedagogical implications for teaching affixes.