Effects of example word presentation on L2 learners’ acquisition of morphological knowledge and awareness through intentional English prefix learning

Abstract

When inferring the meaning of new words based on their parts (e.g., prefixes and roots), learners need morphological knowledge (MK: knowledge of morpheme meanings) as well as morphological awareness (MA: understanding of how morphemes contribute to word meanings). This study examined the effects of presenting an example word during intentional learning of English prefixes on the acquisition of MK and MA. Japanese university students studied the meanings of 10 prefixes (e.g., inter-) for 8 minutes under two conditions. The control condition (n = 29) presented each prefix with its Japanese translation (e.g., inter- =「間に」[“between”]), whereas the example condition (n = 27) also showed one example word containing the prefix (e.g., international). The participants took two tests before, immediately after, and 1 week after the treatment: the MK test, which assessed recall of the prefixes’ meanings; and the MA test, which asked about the meanings of prefixed words not encountered during learning (e.g., interpersonal). The results of the MK test showed that there were no differences between the two groups. Both groups performed well on the immediate MK test, but they failed to retain most of the morpheme knowledge after 1 week. On the other hand, the example group outperformed the control group on the immediate MA test, but only when the semantic transparency (semantic relatedness between the meanings of parts and whole words) of novel words was high. Based on the results, the nature of MA and how it should be taught are discussed.