Transformative impacts of explicit morphological instruction on irregular inflectional acquisition in Saudi EFL learners

The study aimed to investigate the transformative effect of overt (explicit) instruction on the acquisition of irregular inflectional morphemes by Saudi EFL learners. A mixed-method approach with quantitative data complemented by qualitative descriptive analysis was adopted, using pretest–posttest procedures. Input Processing Theory and Processability Theory framed the investigation of the transformative effect of overt instruction between control and experimental groups. The experimental group received weekly one-hour sessions for seven consecutive weeks, employing visual aids and metalinguistic discussion, in addition to normal classroom instruction. Results showed p-values less than 0.001 for all three hypotheses, supporting the alternative hypotheses and rejecting the null hypotheses. The two groups significantly differed in vocabulary knowledge, morpheme recognition, and morpheme use in writing. Findings indicate that overt instruction of irregular inflectional morphology transfers to learners’ writing and facilitates L2 acquisition, with implications for foreign language learners, L2 teachers, and researchers.

Afzal Khan