Morphological and syntactic competencies of first year college students of thai nguyen university system bases for integrative learning exercises

MORPHOLOGICAL AND SYNTACTIC COMPETENCIES OF FIRST YEAR COLLEGE STUDENTS OF THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY SYSTEM: BASES FOR INTEGRATIVE LEARNING EXERCISES A Dissertation Proposal Presented to T

MORPHOLOGICAL AND SYNTACTIC COMPETENCIES OF FIRST YEAR COLLEGE STUDENTS OF THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY SYSTEM:

BASES FOR INTEGRATIVE LEARNING EXERCISES

A Dissertation Proposal Presented to The Faculty of Graduate School Batangas State University Batangas City, Philippines

In Partial Fulfillment

Of the Requirements for the Degree

Of Doctor of Philosophy Major in English

By:

DUONG THI HOA LU

June 2015

ABSTRACT

Title : Morphological and Syntactic Competencies of

First Year College Students of Thai Nguyen University System: Bases for Integrative Learning Exercises

Author : Duong Thi Hoa Lu

Degree : Doctor of Philosophy

This study aimed to determine the morphological and syntactic

competencies of first year college students in English Language at Thai

Nguyen University System, Vietnam The study covered the level of

morphological competency of student respondents in terms of meaning of root

words, affixes, pre-fixes, suffixes, word derivation, word formation and

compounding of words Part also of this study is the level of syntactic

competency of student respondents relative to phrases, clauses, sentences

and functions This also covered the assessment of teachers on the students’

morphological and syntactic competencies, the significant difference on the

level of this competency with the integrative language exercise as the output to

enhance the students’ English language competencies

The study included the 400 first year college students and 70 teachers in

Basic English Course in the Academic Year 2014-2015 This study tested the

following hypothesis that there are no significant differences on the levels of

morpho-syntactic competency of students and the assessment of the English

language teachers It made use of the descriptive method of research with

survey questionnaire and teacher-made test as the main data gathering

instruments The data gathered were statistically treated with the use of

percentage, weighted mean, standard deviation, independent t-test

Findings of the study revealed that as regards levels of understanding of

students in morphology particularly in meaning of root words result indicates

that the students’ levels of competencies in this area of morphology is average

with a fair number of students’ demonstrating a reasonable degree of

competence In prefixes, affixes and suffixes results showed that the total

rating obtained by the students on this area is 59.12 percent which indicates

that the students’ competency in this area is average and is at par with the

competency in the meaning of the root words As for word derivation the total

rating obtained by the students on this area 63.25 percent which falls under the

average level of classification which indicates that the freshman students’ have

developed a certain level of adeptness in word derivation

In word formation, the total rating obtained by students in this

morphology skill component which is 52.85 percent with the verbal equivalent

rating of average indicates that the students are finding some difficulties along

this area In relation to compounding of words, findings revealed that the

students’ obtained a total rating of 61.15 percent with a verbal equivalent rating

of average in this morphology skill component which indicates that the

freshman students has developed skills in compounding

Relative to the levels of students’ competencies in the use of syntax

particularly in phrases, the total rating obtained for this component area is

51.95 percent or verbally equivalent to average which means that the students

demonstrate a certain degree of proficiency in this syntax skill As for clauses,

results showed that the total rating obtained by students is 47.30 percent or its

equivalent of average which implies that the student competency on clauses

are average but below the 50 percent cut-off value For sentences, the total

rating students obtained is 60.50 percent or average which implies that the

students find the test easier and have demonstrated more advanced skill and

competency in sentences As regards functions the total rating of the students’

competency is 49.95 percent or average which implies that the students

demonstrated some degree of proficiency on syntactic functions

In relation to comparison of the levels of competencies in morphology

and syntax, results show that in 22 out of 28 mean comparisons, the p-values

are less than 0.05 which means that the morphology and syntax competencies

corresponding to this means are significantly different and are therefore not

related In six out of 28 mean comparisons, the p-values were greater than

0.05 which means that the morphology and syntax competencies

corresponding to this means are not significantly different and so they are

related to each other which means that in general, no relationship exist among

these linguistic skills

With regards to teachers assessment of the morphological and syntactic

competencies of students all the items obtained an agree score of 100 percent

which means that the teacher respondents unanimously agree that the items

raised can be used for the assessment of the students’ morphological and

syntactic competencies According to the frequency of use of students’ skills,

11 out of 12 items had mean scores close to 3.0 or equivalent to sometimes

and only one had mean scores close to 4.0 or equivalent to often which means

that the teachers observed the students do not practice and use these skills as

often in the class For the assessment according to their degree of importance,

result of assessment showed that all the 12 items had mean scores close to

4.0 or equivalent to moderately important which means that the teachers

regarded the 12 items as only moderately important skills to be developed by

the students

In terms of the difference on the levels of morpho-syntactic

competencies of the students and their performance as assessed by English

teachers, results showed that eight out of 11 component items had a p-value

that is below 0.05 which means that the teacher’s assessment and students’

morpho-syntactic competencies along these areas are significantly different

which suggests that no relationship exist between the treatment means being

compared Moreover, the integrative learning exercises on morpho-syntactic

competencies designed are based on some criteria that are considered and

used as concrete basis for the exercises to be included to address the needs

of the students

The study recommended that teachers may be encouraged to attend

more trainings, seminars and workshops along the areas of morphology and

syntax to further enhance their teaching techniques; that output must be

reviewed and evaluated, and similar studies be conducted by future

researchers

The researcher acknowledges the following persons whose respective

skills and competence contributed much to the completion of this study

Dr Dang Kim Vui, President of Thai Nguyen University,Vietnam for

giving me the opportunity to be included in the Ph.D English Program in

cooperation with Batangas State University, Philippines

Dr Matilda H Dimaano, Dissertation adviser for the whole hearted

assistance in providing useful materials for references, and for her

encouragement and precious time reading, reviewing, and checking the

manuscript Her guidance and expertise in research made this dissertation

possible

The Panel of Examiners Dr Myrna G Sulit, Dr Amada G Banaag, Dr

Maria Luisa A Valdez, Dr Felix M Panopio, for their commendable

suggestions and ideas;

Dr Remedios P Magnaye, Recording Secretary, for her commitment in

preparing and encoding the minutes of defense proceedings;

Dr Nguyen The Hung, Director of the International Training Center Thai

Nguyen University, for his moral support and encouragement;

The English teachers and the student-respondents of the study, for their

active involvement and cooperation;

All friends who in one way or another provide support; and

Her parents and family, who serves as inspiration in this academic

endeavor

Duong Thi Hoa Lu

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

TITLE PAGE i

APPROVAL SHEET ii

ABSTRACT iii

ACKNOWLEDGMENT viii

DEDICATION x

TABLE OF CONTENTS xi

LIST OF TABLES xiv

LIST OF FIGURES xvi

CHAPTER I THE PROBLEM Introduction 1

Statement of the Problem 6

Scope, Delimitation and Limitation of the Study 8

Significance of the Study 9

II REVIEW OF LITERATURE Conceptual Literature 11

Research Literature 46

Synthesis 52

Theoretical Framework 54

Conceptual Framework 56

Hypothesis 58

Definition of Terms 58

III RESEARCH METHOD AND PROCEDURE Research Environment 61

Research Design 62

Subjects of the Study 63

Data Gathering Instrument 65

Data Gathering Procedure 67

Statistical Treatment of Data 68

IV PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF DATA 69

V SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION Summary of Findings 127

Conclusions 137

Recommendation 138

BIBLIOGRAPHY 139

APPENDICES……… 146

A Questionnaires 147

B Letters of Request 156

C Documentations 163

D Psychrometric Conversion Table 168

CURRICULUM VITAE……… 170

LIST OF TABLES Table Title Page

1 Distribution of Population and Sample ……… 64

2 Levels of Students’ Performance in Meaning of Root Words 70

3 Levels of Students’ Performance in Prefixes, Affixes and Suffixes 72

4 Levels of Students’ Performance in Word Derivation 74

5 Levels of Students’ Performance in Word Formation 75

6 Levels of Students’ Performance in Compounding Words 77

7 Levels of Students’ Performance in Phrases 80

8 Levels of Students’ Performance in Clauses 82

9 Levels of Students’ Performance in Sentences 84

10 Levels of Students’ Performance in Functions 86

11 Comparison of the Students’ Levels of Morphological

and Syntactic Competencies 88

12 Students’ Morphological and Syntactic Competencies Employed in Teaching the Basic English Course 91

13 Students’ Morphological and Syntactic Competencies

and their Frequency of Use 92

14 Students’ Morphological and Syntactic Competencies

and their Degree of Importance 94

15 Differences of the Students’ Levels of Performance in Morpho-Syntactic Competencies and their Performance as Assessed by English Teachers 96

16 Bases in the Design of Integrative Learning Exercises on Morpho-Syntactic Competencies 98

Figure Title Page

1 Research Paradigm of the Study ……… 57

THE PROBLEM Introduction

Nowadays English is considered as the international language of

communication, especially in the area of commerce, trade, media, culture, arts

and education It is known as a key to open the door into the bustling word of

rapid changes and development Teaching and learning English in Vietnam

has received special attention since the country implemented the “open-door”

policy That is the reason why learning English is not only interesting but is

also in a great and practical demand for many people especially for those who

want to advance in their careers and to achieve their long term study goals

English is a compulsory subject from the elementary school up to senior

school in today’s Vietnam education system It is considered a difficult subject

for the Vietnamese students because English is completely different from

Vietnamese language being looked at from the system of structure,

pronunciation and vocabulary In the study of the English language, it involves

the four language skills namely listening, speaking, reading and writing

Aspects such as grammar, structure, vocabulary, spelling and pronunciation

are the focus in English teaching and learning process For pedagogical

reasons, specific skills may be focused on separately but there are two

elements that are important to the process of acquiring and using a language

and that is grammar and vocabulary

The element of understanding the English language consists of

vocabulary items which makes it a very important segment in language

teaching and learning aside from language structures and forms So that

grammatical and lexical aspects have a place in language teaching

According to Tikunoff (1983) students with limited English proficiency need

these three kinds of competences which include participative competence which

is the ability to respond appropriately to class demands and the procedural rules

for accomplishing them; interactional competence, the ability to respond both to

classroom rules of discourse and social rules of discourse interacting

appropriately with peers and adults while accomplishing class tasks; and

academic competence, the ability to acquire new skills, assimilate new

information, and construct new concepts

Further, for students to be functionally proficient in the classroom, they

must to be able to utilize these competences to perform these three major

functions such as to decode and understand both task expectations and new

information, to engage appropriately in completing tasks, with high accuracy;

and to obtain accurate feedback with relation to completing tasks accurately

In the study of English language, there are problems or difficulties

encountered by students Among the four skills, speaking is the most

challenging as it involves a complex process of constructing meaning The

development of English learning on the other hand involves the use of real or

authentic material which reflect social and cultural context of language

Students therefore must have exposure to English resource material for them

to improve their communicative skills They can also engage in some activities

like filling forms, writing letters or engage in discussion as to the content of the

reading material to enhance their comprehension Failure of students to

understand the language they hear leads to complete breakdown of

communication so that students are challenged to make some attempts to

understand language as native speaker does

Mastering the learning of language is crucial to most students But there

are methods, techniques and activities that would aid them to become

proficient in the use of the language Students who wish to learn English

language must be able to make use of the four language components

Morphology plays an important role in language learning It focus on the

understanding of language speakers to complex words and create new lexical

items Morphology knowledge about word as the smallest element that may be

uttered in isolation and pragmatic content as well as morpheme which is the

smallest unit of meaning and the composition of word which include single

morpheme is very important to students who are learning the language

In morphology, students encountered difficulty in forming compound

word where they are going to add affixes to the root Similarly, they can’t put

together words in order to build larger elements of language such as phrases,

clauses and sentences Further, there are also difficulties in developing

definition, giving of synonyms, and antonyms of certain words So language

teachers must look for a way to help students improve their language

proficiency like utilizing instruction material fitted for the lesson that would

make conversation of students prior knowledge to the new words so that

students can make modifications of their existing framework of knowledge and

whenever they meet these words in their readings they effectively construct

meaning

Syntax on the other hand according to Chomsky (2002) is the set of

rules, principles and processes that govern the structure of sentences in a

given language As a form of grammar, syntax is the study of rules that must

be followed to have well-formed phrases, clauses and sentences and is

concerned with the grammatical arrangement of words in sentences with

correct agreement when they are used together The structure of sentences

which pertains to syntax must follow certain structural rules to have sense

Students can illustrate the patterns of English effectively and clearly as well as

analyze the structure of English sentences in a systematic and explicit way

through their knowledge of syntax

Language teachers must give emphasis in the context of the words

They can discuss the meaning through context clues from the reading

selection or by defining the terms to give clarity to meaning for better

understanding of students Further, students must also be given requested

exposure in the use of words in different situations and meanings and engage

them in oral and written practice

As in the case of inflections and word formation, students has

encountered problems relative to determining the correct syntax in sentences

and what kind of inflection the word need in order to have a grammatically

correct statement In this situation, language teacher must give emphasis to

the teaching of word order and give focus on the functions and relationship of

each word for students to develop their language proficiency Producing

appropriate grammatical utterance is not the only measure that students

develop language proficiency but instead they must have the ability to produce

and understand those utterances in a particular grammar sequence that is

most appropriate to the linguistic and situational context

Further, students must develop their ability to apply grammatical rules of

language in order for them to grammatically correct sentences and where and

who to use these sentences and for whom This indicates that in all aspects in

the study of language, they must learn the appropriateness of its uses,

communication with other people and culture as well as in linguistic and

situational context

As an English language teacher teaching General English in Thai

Nguyen University, difficulties in morphology along the areas of word

formation, affixes, synonyms and antonyms as well as compounding and word

functions were observed among freshman college students This scenario,

prompted the researcher to conduct a study along morpho-syntactic

competency of first year college students with integrative language exercise as

output to enhance students’ morpho-syntactic competence

Statement of the Problem

This study aimed to determine the morpho- syntactic competencies of

First year college students in English Language at Thai Nguyen University

System, Vietnam

Specifically, the study sought answers to the following questions;

1 What is the level of performance of First Year College Students in

the following morphological competencies:

1.1 meaning of root words;

1.2 prefixes, affixes and suffixes;

3 How do levels of performance in morphological and syntactic

competencies compare? Are there significant relationships?

4 How do English language teachers assess the levels of performance

of students in morphological and syntactic competencies?

5 Are there significant differences on the levels of students’

performance in morphology and syntax and their performance as assessed by

English teachers?

6 What integrative learning exercises in morphology and syntax may

be proposed to improve students’ language competencies?

Scope, Delimitation and Limitation of the Study

The study determined the levels of morphological and syntactic

competencies in English language of First year college students at Thai

Nguyen University The levels of morphological competency of student

respondents covered were the meaning of root words, affixes, pre-fixes,

suffixes, word derivation, word formation and compounding of words.On the

levels of syntactic competencies of student respondents the following were

included: phrases, clauses, sentences and functions The study also dealt on

the assessment of the teachers on the students’ morphological and syntactic

competencies, its significant differences with integrative language exercise as

the output to enhance the students’ competency

The respondents of the study were composed of 400 first year college

students and their 70 teachers in Basic English Course in the Academic Year

2014-2015 in Thai Nguyen University Students who were in their second year,

third year and fourth year respectively were not part of the study Likewise,

results of the study were limited only on the data gathered from the

respondents

Significance of the Study

This study is believed to have profound significance to the

administrators, faculty of Foreign Language, first year students in Thai Nguyen

University, present researcher and future researchers

Administrators Findings of this study will provide basic information to

the administrators regarding levels of morphological and syntactic

competencies of first year college students and these will also serve as an

opener for them to have plans of providing effective Faculty Development

Training Program gearing towards improving students’ English language

proficiency

Faculty of Foreign Language Results of the study will provide them

information on the current status regarding morphological and syntactic

competencies of first year college students in English language for them to

have an opportunity to choose the best training program to attend to in order to

improve their strategies in teaching morphology and syntax

First Year Students of TNU This study will serve as input for them to

be aware on their morphological and syntactic competencies They will be

informed of their weaknesses so that they can make some ways to improve

their English performance

Present Researcher Results of this study may contribute to broaden

his knowledge in providing recommendations to improve morphological and

syntactic competencies of first year college students

Future Researchers Results of the study will be of use to other

researchers who wish to conduct a similar study Future researchers may

use this study to enrich their own body of literature and substantiate their

own findings

REVIEW OF LITERATURE This chapter presents the review of concepts and studies that fits into

the existing body of knowledge These literatures provide a rich background

and right direction to complete the present study Included also in this chapter

are synthesis, theoretical and conceptual frameworks, paradigm of the study

and definition of terms

Conceptual Literature

The following concepts branches of linguistics, morphology, English

syntax and English language learning exercises which were discussed

provided a conceptual frame of reference in the study

Branches of Linguistics.The scientific study of human language and

speech is termed Linguistics It is the study of language and is concerned with

human language as a universal part of human behavior and of the human

abilities (Nasr, 1984) Linguistics as competence is referred to as being a

person’s potential to speak a language, and his or her linguistics performance

as the realization of that potential (Powers et al., 1994)

The following are the branches of linguistics: phonetics as the study of

the sounds of human language; phonology or phonemics as the study of

patterns of a language’s basic sounds; morphology as the study of the internal

structure of words; and syntax as the study of how words combine to form

grammatical sentences Semantics on the other hand deals on the study of the

meaning of the words or lexical semantics and fixed word combinations or

phraseology and how these combine to form the meanings of sentences

Pragmatics on the other hand refers to the study of how utterances are used

such as literally or figuratively in communicative acts Discourse analysis covers

the study of sentences organized into texts while applied linguistics is the

application of the methods and results of linguistics to such areas as language

teaching, national language policies, translation, language politics, advertising,

classroom and courts or forensic linguistics (http://www Stiba-malang.com/

uploadbank/ pustaka/MKLINGUISTIK/BRANCH %20OF%20LINGUISTICS.pdf.)

Included also under the branches of linguistics are lexicography, the

compiling of dictionaries, sociolinguistics, the study of language in relation to

social factors such as social class, educational level, age, sex and ethnic origin

as well as the study of language choice in bilingual or multilingual

communities, language planning or language attitudes As for stylistics it is the

study of that variation in language which is dependent on the situation in which

the language is used and also on the effect the writer or speaker wishes to

create on the reader or hearer and tries to establish principles capable of

explaining the particular choices made by individuals and social groups in their

use of language

In addition, literary stylistics refers to the the analysis of literary texts

applying linguistic methods and theories with the aim of providing retrievable

interpretations which allow comparisons of different texts and genres while

psycholinguistics is the study of the mental processes underlying the planning,

production, perception, and comprehension of speech (http://www.v

odppl.upm.edu.my/uploads/docs/INTRODUCTION%20AND%20LINGUISTICS

%20-LECTURE%203.ppt.)

Phonetics, as a branch of linguistics is the study of speech sound To

describe speech sounds, it is necessary to know what an individual is, and

how each sound differs from all others (Fromkin, et al., 2010) As the study of

the actual physical properties of sounds or phones, as well as non-speech

sounds, their production, audition, and perception of human language,

phonetics deals with the sounds themselves rather than the contexts in which

they are used in languages ( http: // had iru ki yah blogspot com/ 2009/07

/definition-and-branches-of-linguistics.html)

Whereas the description of the linguistic knowledge that linguists try to

produce as well as the linguistic knowledge that speakers have about the

sound patterns of their language are referred to as phonology Studying which

sounds are distinctive units within a language is considered an important part

of phonology

Morphology on the other hand is the study of word formation or word

structure According to Parker (1986) morphology is the study of the

architecture of words It is generally accepted that while words are considered

the smallest units of syntax, by means of rules words can relate to other words

in most languages There are specific patterns or regularities in which words

are formed from smaller units and how these units interact in speech

depending on how the speaker comprehended the rules Such patterns of

word- formation across and within languages, as well as explication attempts

on formal rules reflective of the knowledge of the speakers of languages are

dealt with in morphology

In addition, syntax as one of the branches of linguistics refers to the part

of grammar that represents a speaker’s knowledge of sentences and their

structures It deals with the study of the rules that govern the ways in which

words combine to form phrases, clauses, and sentences It is one of the major

components of grammar (http:// grammar about com/ od/ rs /q/ syntax.htm)

Semantics is the most fundamental concepts in linguistics, as it refers to

the study of meaning which in turn is essential to the study of language

acquisition in terms of how language users acquire a sense of meaning as

speakers and writers, listeners and readers as well as of language change It

is considered important in understanding language in social contexts as these

are likely to affect meaning and understanding language varieties of English

and effects of style In studying semantics, it includes the study of how the

meaning is constructed, interpreted, clarified, obscured, illustrated, simplified,

negotiated, contradicted and paraphrased ( www Teachit.co uk /armoore

/language/ semantics.htm/)

Moreover, pragmatics refers to the study of how literal and non- literal

aspects of communicated linguistic meaning are determined by principles that

refer to the physical or social context in which language is used

Conversational, conventional implicatures as well as metaphor, other tropes

and speech acts are the aspects of pragmatics (http://www Merriam-

webster.com/dictionary/pragmatics) Pragmatists as explained by Finch (2000)

focus on what is not explicitly stated and how utterances are interpreted in

situational contexts as they concerned not so much with the sense of what is

said as with its force, that is, with what is communicated by the manner and

style of an utterance

Discourse analysis according to Abrams, et al., (2005) is the study of

ways in which language is used in texts and contexts It is a modern discipline

that covers a wide variety of different sociolinguistic approaches It aims to

analyze the use of discourse in language beyond the level of a sentence;

language behaviors linked to social practices; and language as a system of

thought(https://sites.google.com/sheffield.ac.uk//all-about-linguistic

/branches/discourse –analysis/what-is-discourse-analysis)

Lexicography on the other hand pertains to the art of making dictionary

(Mugglestone, 2011) There are two important groups of lexicography These

include practical lexicography which is the process of writing, editing, and or

compiling a dictionary and theoretical lexicography which is a scholarly

discipline of analyzing and describing the semantic, syntagmatic or

paradigmatic relationships within the lexicon or vocabulary of a language It

also develop theories of dictionary components and structures, linking the data

in dictionaries, the needs for information by users in specific types of situation

and how users may best access the data incorporated, and imprinted

However, electronic dictionaries are referred to as meta-lexicography

(grammar about com/od /il /g/lexicogterm.htm./)

The study of how language serves and shaped by the social nature of

human beings pertains to sociolinguistics.As a branch of linguistics, it analyzes

the many and diverse ways in which languages and society entwine It

examines the interplay of language and society, with language as the starting

point The basic premise of sociolinguistics is that language is variable and

changing (http://pbs.org/speak/speech/sociolinguistics/) Stylistics on the other

hand, as a branch of linguistics, is the study of the devices in language such

as rhetorical figures and syntactic patterns that are considered to produce

expressive literary style (www Britanica am/ EB Checked /topic /570324

/stylistics)

According to Barry (2002) stylistics is the modern version of the ancient

discipline known as rhetoric which taught its students how to structure an

argument, how to make effective use of figures of speech, and generally how

to pattern and vary a speech or a piece of writing so as to produce the

maximum impact Stylistic analysis attempts to provide a commentary which is

objective and scientific, based on concrete and quantifiable data and applied in

systematic way Clark, et al., (1997) pointed out that the field of

psycholinguistics is concerned with discovering the psychological process that

make it possible for humans to acquire and use language It addresses three

major concerns namely; how people understand spoken and written language;

how people produce language or speech production; and how language is

acquired

Morphology The term referred to as the combination of morphemes

into words It is the study of word formation processes and morphemic

structure of words (Napoli, 1996) The term morphology examines how words

are structured internally It also looks at the way words are formed and the

rules that go along with them (blog innovative/ lang.com/ 2009/ linguistic

morphology)

Morphology is the study of the internal structure and formation of words

in languages that deals with inflection, derivation and compounding, the

system of word-forming elements and processes in a language (Baver,L.2003/

books.google.com.vn /books/ introducing linguistic) In most languages rules

determine the close relationship of words and students who have mastered the

language to some degree due to his knowledge in morphology can analyze

and identify words in the second language Further, students must clearly

understand the terms of precise patterns in which the word is formed in a

sentence or phrase

Knowledge in morphology includes knowledge of individual morphemes,

their pronunciation, their meaning, and their knowledge of the rules for

combining morphemes into complex words According to Delahunty et al.,

(1994) morphemes are said to be the most elemental units of meaning in a

language It is the smallest meaningful part of the word Morphemes that are

attached are said to be bound and affixes are classified according to whether

they are attached before or after the form to which they are added

Morphology is the study of how words are put together It is developed as a

subfield of linguistics as soon as linguist realized that the rules they had devised

to explain the sound patterns in English could explain the structure of words

(http.www.guiglet.com) It pertains also to the scientific study of forms and

structure of words in language as well as the mental system involved in word

formation or to the branch of linguistics that deals with words, their internal

structure and how they are formed (http www Blackwell ,publishing com)

In addition, according to Booji, (2007) morphology as a sub-discipline of

linguistics, refers to the study of the forms of words It also refers to the

identification, analysis and description of structure of a given language’s

morphemes and other linguistic units such as root words, affixes, parts of

speech, intonation stress or implied context (www britannica Com /EB

checked/topic)

Hamaward (2011) stated that morphology has the following aims:to

describe the structures of words and patterns of word formation in a language;

to pin down the principles for relating the form and meaning of morphological

expression; explain how the morphological units are integrated and the

resulting formation interpreted; and show how morphological units are

organized in the lexicon in terms of affinity and contrast The lexical resources

of language is uncovered by the study of morphology that help speakers to

acquire the skills and use them creatively and consequently to express with

eloquence their thoughts and feelings

Morphology has two branches and these include the lexical or

derivational which studies the way in which new items of vocabulary can be

built up out of the combination of elements and inflectional morphology which

studies the ways words vary in their form in order to express a grammatical

contrast (Crystal, 2003) Inflectional forms of various lexemes, as well as the

character of an appendix to the syntax which is a major component of

grammar are also covered under inflectional morphology whereas lexical-word

formation is related to the dictionary by contrast

Huddleston et al., (2002) describe lexical word formation as the process

by which new lexical bases composed of more than one morphological

element Word formation is the traditional term for lexical word formation

There are two kinds of morphological word formation namely: derivation which

involves affixing bound forms to existing lexemes whereby the addition of the

affix derives a new lexeme and compounding which is a process of word

formation that involves combining complete word forms into a single form

In morphology, words are the smallest independent units of language

which means they can be separated from other units and can change position

Words are the only units of language and the smallest units of language which

are independent can be separated from one another and can move around in

sentence Words have internal structure being the smallest independent units

of language and built by simple words which comprise of one piece that do not

have internal structure.Complex words on the other hand have internal

structure and consist of two or more pieces

O ‘Grady (1997) stated that these pieces are called morphemes and are

the smallest bearing units of language Morphology which refers to the rules of

combining morphemes has three approaches The three primary approaches

of morphology are the item and arrangement approach or morpheme; the item

and process approach or the lexeme and the word and paradigm approach or

the word based Based on the morphology model, a student must be familiar

with the spelling of the word, the pronunciation and definition of the word, the

parts of speech of the word, the history of the word, if the word is improper; if

the word is out of date; examples of the word, any slang associated with the

word; and the root of the word for him to possess the knowledge of a word

Further, in English language morphology which is the study of word

forms is concerned with the use of morphemes to form words as well as the

linguistic investigation of the combination of morphemes Lyons (1974) pointed

out features of morphemes which include the minimal units of grammatical

analysis and language, the units of lowest rank out of which words the units of

next higher rank are composed In morpheme based morphology, analysis of

word forms as arrangement of morpheme is done

There are three basic axioms in morpheme-based-morphology These

are single morpheme hypothesis by Baudoin; sign based morpheme

hypothesis by Bloomfield and lexical morpheme hypothesis also by

Bloomfield.In single morpheme hypothesis, roots and affixes have the same

status as morpheme while in sign based morpheme, the morphemes are

dualistic signs because they have both forms and meanings.As for lexical

morpheme hypothesis, the morpheme, affixes and roots alike are stored in

the lexicon

In the case of lexeme-based morphology, it is an item and a process

approach It assumes that only lexemes, derived or underived, are signs and

that affixes, reduplication, revowelling, metathesis, subtraction, stem mutation,

and the like, are means of phonologically marking independent derivational

operations which a lexeme might have undergone (Aronoff, 1994) A word

form is said to be the result of the rules applied that changes a word form or

stem to produce a new one instead of analyzing the said form as a set of

morphemes arranged in sequence

A stem is taken by an inflectional rule and as a requirement of the rule

changes it and a word form is outputted As for derivational rule, a stem is

taken and based on its own requirement it changes In compounding rule, it

takes a word form and a compound stem is similarly outputted

Word-based-morphology on the other hand is also a word and paradigm

approach A paradigm which serves as the central concept is considered in

this theory.Word-based morphology states generalizations that hold between

the forms of inflectional paradigm instead of stating the rules to combine

morphemes into word forms or to generate word forms from stems It is a

hypothesis which states that all regular word formation processes are word

based A new-word is formed by applying a regular rule to single already

existing word Both the new word and the existing one are members of major

lexical categories (Aronoff, 1976)

In addition, morpheme as the smallest in the grammatical rank scale,

Yule (1985) explained that is a minimal linguistic element with a unit of

meaning or grammatical function A morpheme cannot be further divided into

smaller grammatical or meaningful components but it can function as any of

the following elements in the structure of words such as base, prefix, infix,

suffix and ending The exponent of a morpheme relating to the morpheme as

an abstraction with morpheme itself being its realization is called a morph

(www.unilorin.edu.ng/publication)

Allomorph on the other hand is a family of morpheme, deriving from the

fact that in English, certain morphemes or morphs change their nature from one

word environment to the other Allomorphs relate to the phonological aspect of

grammatical analysis (Eka, 1994).There are two major types of morphemes: free

and bound A word is the free morpheme also known as the root It is

independent in terms of meaning and forms and it can stand on its own A bound

morpheme on the other hand cannot stand on its own as it is subordinate to the

free morpheme Bound morphemes are the affixes which are bound morphemes,

affixed to the beginning of words, and infixes are those inserted in the middle of