TEACHING VOCABULARY THROUGH MORPHOLOGICAL ANALYSIS: A SYNTHESIS OF RESEARCH IN ESL/EFL CONTEXT

Abstract

The comprehensive review gives a synthesis of the existing body of literature on the effectiveness of teaching vocabulary through morphological analysis of the unfamiliar words when encountered in reading a text in ESL/EFL context. Morphological analysis involves breaking down unknown words into their constituent parts in order to infer their meanings. The paper aims to investigate the effectiveness of morphological analysis in increasing vocabulary acquisition across diverse learners. Furthermore, the paper explores various pedagogical strategies, leveraging morphological analysis instruction, and word-formation analysis. Various studies are presented in the synthesis, examining the impact of breaking words into parts across learners of different backgrounds, age groups and proficiency levels. Findings of the study suggest that breaking words into parts arguments vocabulary learning and helps learners ESL/EFL to generate the meanings of the unfamiliar words. The paper also identifies gaps in the existing literature. Despite a few limitations, morphological analysis becomes a useful strategy in the acquisition of language at target. The synthesis calls for further research in order to maximize its implementation in multi-faceted educational contexts.