Flat-Pack words and how to assemble them : analysis of the treatment of word-formation in the New Headway textbooks

Details

Supervisors

Lefer, Marie-Aude

Faculty

Faculté de philosophie, arts et lettres

Degree label

Master [120] en langues et lettres modernes, orientation germaniques

Abstract

Morphological awareness plays a key role in vocabulary learning, both in the L1 and L2. In the latter case, research on the topic mostly covers (i) EFL learners' receptive and productive derivational knowledge (Schmitt & Zimmerman 2002, Collins & Nation 2015, Karlsson 2015), (ii) the connection between morphological awareness and the learners' reading/writing skills (Jeon 2011, Zhang & Koda 2013, Schano 2015, Leontjev et al. 2016) (iii) the influence of the learners' L1 on their word derivational knowledge in the L2 (Balteiro 2011, Callies 2015), (iv) some implications for teaching and learning (Bauer & Nation 1993, Oz 2014), (v)...However, only few studies discuss the treatment of word-formation in textbooks (Tahaineh 2012). The present study is a continuation of Van Lint (2016) (i.e. the aims and methodology are similar). It aims to review the treatment of word-formation in the New Headway (NH) series. It also discusses Bauer & Nation's (1993) graded list of affixes and their coverage in the exercises from the textbooks. Findings show that the NH textbooks include both theory and practice on word-formation, especially at the intermediate levels. As for the affixes covered in the exercises, though most are listed in Bauer & Nation's list, they are not necessarily introduced in the same order.