The role of morphological awareness in L2 postgraduates’ academic writing: is vocabulary knowledge a mediating variable?

Abstract

This research explores the relationship between morphological awareness (MA) and linguistic aspects by examining how MA affects postgraduates’ academic writing, particularly in English as a second language (L2), dealing with writing challenges and vocabulary issues. This study investigates the relationship between MA and academic writing and the potential benefits of a morphological awareness intervention for improving writing ability. The study also investigates whether the relationship between MA and writing performance is mediated by vocabulary knowledge. The study included thirty postgraduate students whose writing was evaluated before and after receiving morphological awareness instruction. The findings indicate that vocabulary knowledge acts as a mediator between MA and writing, implying that increases in vocabulary proficiency significantly impacted students’ writing skills. As a result of the intervention, the participants’ writing abilities significantly improved. These findings highlight the importance of morphological awareness in academic writing, as well as the importance of incorporating focused morphological instruction into writing curricula. The study also calls for more research into the complex relationship between MA, vocabulary proficiency, and writing skills in various populations and contexts. Understanding this interplay can aid in developing more efficient techniques for improving academic writing abilities, particularly for L2 learners who struggle in this area.

Keywords:

• Postgraduates
• morphological awareness
• intervention
• vocabulary

Reviewing Editor:

• Kevin Yung
• Education University of Hong Kong FEHD: The Education University of Hong Kong Faculty of of Education and Human Development
• Hong Kong

Subjects:

• Higher Education
• Bilingualism / ESL
• Language & Linguistics
• Grammar, Syntax & Linguistic Structure
• Morphology

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Hani Qasem Mohammed Asaad

Hani Qasem Mohammed Asaad is working as an Assistant Professor in Applied Linguistics at the School of Languages, Civilisation, and Philosophy, UUM College of Arts and Sciences, Kedah, Darul Aman, Malaysia, where he received his PhD and Master’s degrees. His research interests include academic writing, morphology, methods of teaching English, material selection and development, sociolinguistics, and discourse analysis. In addition, he conducts lectures on academic writing and research methodology for postgraduate students.