•  
  •  
 

Abstract

This study examined the effect of a learning strategy based on explicit morphological processing on the acquisition of Academic Word List (AWL) items among undergraduate EFL students, within an educational psycholinguistic framework. A quasi-experimental, pretest–posttest, non-equivalent control group design was combined with a qualitative strand in a convergent mixed-methods approach. Seventy-two undergraduate students enrolled in an English for Academic Purposes (EAP) course were assigned by intact class to an experimental group (n = 36), which received explicit instruction in morphological analysis, and a control group (n = 36), which received conventional definition- and context-based vocabulary instruction. Both groups were taught by the same instructor, followed the same syllabus, and encountered the same target AWL items across eight weeks. Quantitative data were collected through a 40-item AWL Vocabulary Test and a 30-item Morphological Awareness Task battery administered as pretest and posttest; self-report and qualitative data were collected through an 18-item Learner Reflection Questionnaire completed by the experimental group and semi-structured interviews with ten purposively selected experimental group participants. The groups did not differ at pretest on either measure, t(70) = 0.29, p = .771 for AWL and t(70) =-0.34, p = .732 for morphological awareness. At posttest the experimental group scored higher on the AWL test, t(70) = 6.57, p < .001, Cohen's d = 1.55, 95% CI [1.02, 2.08], and on morphological awareness, t(70) = 7.72, p < .001, d = 1.82, 95% CI [1.27, 2.37]. Analysis of covariance with pretest score as covariate confirmed the group difference on the AWL posttest, F(1, 69) = 35.78, p < .001, partial η 2 = .34. Questionnaire and interview data indicated that participants reported greater cognitive effort during encoding, more analytic engagement with unfamiliar academic words, and independent use of the strategy in other courses. Within the constraints of a single-site quasi-experimental design with an immediate posttest, the findings suggest that explicit morphological instruction is a productive component of EAP vocabulary pedagogy and are consistent with psycholinguistic accounts emphasising morphological decomposition and depth of encoding in academic vocabulary development.

Keywords

Morphological processing, Morphological awareness, Academic word list, Academic vocabulary, Educational psycholinguistics, English for academic purposes, Depth of processing

Article Type

Article

First Page

197

Last Page

217

Publication Date

9-15-2026

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Download

Share

COinS