An Analysis of the Derivational and Inflectional Affixation in Sudanese EFL University Learners' written discourse

الملخص

The current study aims to investigate and analyze the influence of derivational
and inflectional affixation in the written discourse of Sudanese EFL university
learners. To collect the relevant data, fifty EFL learners from the university of
Kassala faculty of education were randomly chosen to be the sample of the study.
The sample received explicit morphological instruction in a regular classroom for
the full term. They were given a list of words to form different word classes using
morphological processes and use each in written discourse. It also aims to
examine the correlation between derivational and inflectional awareness and EFL
written discourse. The most important findings revealed that EFL learners
demonstrated extremely poor performance and a weak understanding of the
morphological rules. EFL learners faced difficulties to derive words such as verbs,
nouns, adverbs, and adjectives, which can negatively affect their writing. Another
important finding is that EFL learners lack awareness of the significant role that
morphological rules can have. Based on the findings the study recommends: that
university EFL learners should receive an explicit and rich instruction of the
morphological rules.