Abstract
The aim of this study is to investigate the morphological knowledge among ESL secondary school students. As English text has many complex words, and understanding them can be problematic to ESL struggling students. Thus, having knowledge of morphology is deemed vital for their vocabulary acquisition. 110 ESL secondary school students’ morphology knowledge was assessed based on their analysis and synthesis ability in this study. The Morphemic Analysis Test was employed to measure the students’ ability to decode morphological units in English complex words. Opinion Survey questionnaire was used to identify whether the students are interested to learn a new strategy that can aid them in learning morphological units. T-test and descriptive statistics were employed to report the results of the study. The results indicated that the students have limited knowledge of morphology as they lack the ability to analyse morphologically complex words. However, the students expressed their interest to learn the proposed strategy to learn morphological units. This finding implicates that there is a need for a strategy on learning morphological units that can facilitate students’ vocabulary acquisition. The study thus recommends morphemic analysis strategy so that students can acquire vocabulary effectively by unlocking the meaning of complex words.
Highlights
Background of the StudyKnowledge of word part meaning or morphological knowledge/morphological awareness can be a powerful tool for students to acquire vocabulary (Kieffer & Lesaux, 2007). Kuo and Anderson (2006) suggest that when students are provided with morphology knowledge, they know more words and are able to comprehend complex words in their readings. Ferguson (2006) states that students can understand a large number of the complex words they encounter in their texts if they know how to decode the complex words into smaller morphological units
The results of research question 1 further determined that the level of morphological knowledge among ESL secondary school students in this study was low
Results from the Opinion Survey questionnaire (Table 3) indicate that ESL secondary school students are willing to learn a new strategy, such as morphemic analysis strategy, which can be helpful for them to learn about morphology and acquire vocabulary effectively
Summary
Background of the StudyKnowledge of word part meaning or morphological knowledge/morphological awareness can be a powerful tool for students to acquire vocabulary (Kieffer & Lesaux, 2007). Kuo and Anderson (2006) suggest that when students are provided with morphology knowledge (how words are formed through affixes and base words), they know more words and are able to comprehend complex words in their readings. Ferguson (2006) states that students can understand a large number of the complex words they encounter in their texts if they know how to decode the complex words into smaller morphological units. According to Ferguson, base words and affixes (prefixes and suffixes) are part of the morphological knowledge which can help students to unlock the meaning of words She asserts that morphological knowledge is essential because secondary school students are faced with more difficult texts and complex vocabulary; they need strategies to help them decode the words for better understanding. This finding is supported by Ebbers (2009) that secondary school texts contain many complex words and students’ abilities to analyse and decode these words are essential for their reading comprehension
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callMore From: Malaysian Journal of Languages and Linguistics (MJLL)
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
