Accuracy Order of English Grammatical Morphemes of Saudi EFL Learners

Year 2018, Volume: 18 Issue: 77, 65 - 80, 20.09.2018

Abuelgasim Sabah Elsaid Mohammed Abdulaziz Bashir Sanosı

Abstract

Purpose: This paper investigates the accuracy order of
grammatical morphemes followed by Saudi EFL learners. The major aim of the
research was to reveal the pattern of grammatical morpheme acquisition of the participants,
and to compare it against the Natural Order Hypothesis (NOH) as stated by
Krashen (1977). The different factors that affected the generated order were
also discussed. Research Methods:  The present research adopted a descriptive
quantitative design. Three groups of male and female students (n= 258) participated in the study. The
participants were selected randomly from public schools and university
colleges. They responded to a grammar elicitation task designed to test their
accuracy of using grammatical morphemes.

Pica's (1983) TLU method was used to assess the
participants' performance. Findings:  It was found that Saudi EFL learners developed
the accuracy of using grammatical morphemes in a similar sequence regardless of
their educational stages. Although this sequence was fixed, there seemed to be
a clear effect of the educational stage upon the quality of their usage. The
generated accuracy order was found to be different from the NOH. This result
suggested that the participants' first language (L1) affected the accuracy
order of grammatical morphemes. Implications for research and practice:
The findings of the study suggested that course book lesson plans should be
designed according to the generated order to facilitate grammatical morpheme
acquisition. Further research that will utilize a bigger size of samples is
also required to confirm the generated order.

Keywords

Second Language Acquisition, Morpheme Acquisition, Natural Order Hypothesis

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