The effect of etymological and morphological vocabulary instruction on receptive, productive vocabulary, and written spelling of adult non-native english language learners

This study assesses and evaluates the effect of etymological and morphological vocabulary instruction on the adult non-native English language learners' receptive/productive vocabulary, and their written spelling. 48 adult non-native English language learners were randomly selected and assigned to two groups (24 participants in each), one as the experimental and the other as the control group. Michigan Test of English Language Placement Test (MTELP) was conducted to test both groups' English proficiency level. Two tests were prepared by using Wesche and Paribakt's 1996 Vocabulary Knowledge Scale (VKS) to test receptive and productive vocabulary knowledge of the participants and a paused dictation test was prepared to test both groups' written spelling. All these three tests were given to both groups before and after the treatment. The experimental group's participants received etymological and morphological vocabulary instruction for two months whereas the participants in the control group were taught through conventional school instruction. At the end of the study an open-ended questionnaire was given to the experimental group participants and qualitative data of the study was obtained. The quantitative and qualitative data results revealed a significant and positive effect of etymological and morphological vocabulary instruction on the experimental group members' receptive/ productive vocabulary and their written spelling.