Iraqi EFL Learners ' Recognition and Production of English Derivational Suffixes

This study aims at testing the Iraqi EFL learners' recognition and production of the derivational suffixes in English and namely, noun, verb, adjective, and adverb. It is hypothesized that the Iraqi EFL learners find difficulty in forming new correct parts of speech from the roots due to their unsureness of the suitable derivational suffixes. Also, they tend to use derivational suffixes with different parts of speech depending on different factors like guessing and generalization. The sample of this study is fourth-year Iraqi students of the Department of English/ College of Education Ibn Rushd/ Universitry of Baghdad of the academic year (2014-2015). To achieve the aim of this study a test, which comprises two questions, has been constructed. A multiple-choice question at the recognition level and a completion question at the production level are constructed. The findings of the test show that Iraqi EFL university learners face difficulty in recognizing and producing the derivational suffixes of different parts of speech. In the light of the results, some conclusions have been drawn and a number of recommendations and suggestions have been presented.


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attached (as in suffixation e.g. -tion is a noun-forming derivational suffix). They also usually occur closer to the root morpheme than do inflections (e.g. nation-al-ize + -ing/-s/-d) (Crystal,2003:132). Derivational suffixes usually change both the meaning and the word class; that is, a suffix is often added to a verb or adjective to form a new noun with a different meaning (e.g. dark: darkness, agree: agreement, friend: friendship) (Biber, Conrad, and Leech, 2002).

The Problem
Learners of English as a foreign language face a problem resulting from their unsureness about the base word and about which derivational suffix to use to form the needed part of speech. Subsequently, they do not know which suffixes can be attached to which root words. More specifically learners need to know that the choice of a particular derivational suffix determines a particular form of a word. Not knowing how the system works, learners often choose a derivational suffix at random. In other words, problems in word class derivation occur because learners have not sharpened their linguistic intuitions to the point where they can choose the derivational suffix that will allow them to form a new word.

Aims of the Study
The study aims at 1. testing the Iraqi EFL learners' recognition and production of the derivational suffixes in English. 2. identifying the differences among learners with regard to the recognition and the production in the four areas of the derivational suffixes namely, noun, verb, adjective, and adverb.

Hypotheses of the Study
It is hypothesized that the Iraqi EFL learners: 1. find difficulty in forming new correct parts of speech from the roots due to their unsureness of the suitable derivational suffixes.
2. tend to use derivational suffixes with different parts of speech depending on different factors like guessing and generalization.

Limits of the Study
This study is limited to the investigation of the derivational suffixes in English only. The sample of the study will be limited to the fourth year students of the English Department at the College of Education/ Ibn Rushd/ University of Baghdad.

Procedures of the Study
In order to achieve the aims of this study: 1. a test of learners' recognition and production of derivational suffixes will be carried out.
2. analysing the results of the test by using statistical measures .

Value of the Study
It is hoped that the findings and the results of this study will be of value to teachers who are interested in knowing the difficulties the leaners encounter in recognizing and producing derivational suffixes of different parts of speech. 8. Methodology

Population and Sample Selection
The sample of the study consists of 30 subjects of the fourth academic year (2014)(2015) of the Departments of English at the College of Education/ Ibn-Rushd/ University of Baghdad.

Test Construction
The researcher constructs a test about the nominal suffixes, verbal suffixes, adjectival suffixes, and adverbial suffixes used in the test of the same number. The test consists of two parts, the first is concerned with recognition level and the second is concerned with production level. In both the recognition and production levels, the test is of one question consists of 24 items, i.e. all the items of the test are 44 items. Each item of the test is given one mark if it is correct, and zero if the item is incorrect.

Test validity
In order to ensure the validity of this test, it was exposed to a jury of experts (See: appendix 2) to provide the researcher with their opinions in verifying the items of the test, checking its validity and suitability. The jurors agreed upon its validity and suitability.

Analysis of the Results
To find out the recognition level, one-sample t-test has been used .The computed t-test value, which is (17.209), has been found higher than the tabulated t-test value, which is (2.045). This means that there is a statistical difference between the sample mean score, which is (8.66), and with a standard deviation of (2.758), and that of the total population, which is (7.636), on a level of significance of (0.05) and (29) degree of freedom. (See: As for the production level of the fourth year, Iraqi EFL College learners, one-sample t-test has been used. The statistical analysis by using the SPSS shows that the computed t-test value is (16.349), which is higher than the tabulated t-test value, which is (2.045), on (0,05) level of significance and (29) degree of freedom. This result 70 signifies that there is a statistically significant difference between the sample mean score, which is (11.1333), and a standard deviation, which is (3.729), and of the theoretical mean, which is (9.740). This means that the students' level in production is good. (See: To check whether there is a statistical difference between recognition and production of the students' level, two independent sample-t-test has been used. The mean of recognition of the students is (8.77) with standard deviation of (2.777), while the mean of the production of the students is (11.034) with standard deviation of (3.849). The computed t-test value, which is (2.621) on (0.05) level of significance and (58) degree of freedom, whereas the tabulated t-test value is (2.000). This shows that there is a statistically significant difference between the recognition and production of the Iraqi learners in favor of the production test. (See: To identify the differences among the four areas of the study, which are the derivational suffixes of nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs, the ANOVA has been used. The statistical analysis shows that the computed F-ratio is (0.483), which is lower than the tabulated one, which is (2.62). This is clear from the mean score of each area as shown in the This shows that there is no statistically significant differences among the four areas under study in the recognition level. (See Table  ( On the other hand, to identify the differences among the four areas of the study, i.e. the derivational suffixes of nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs in the production levels, ANOVA has been used. The statistical analysis shows that the computed F-ratio is (18.940) is higher than the tabulated one, which is (2.62). This signifies that there are statistical difference among the four areas. To decide the score of difference, the mean scores have been checked as shown in Table ( Table (6) Therefore the difference is found statistical in the noun area since its mean score is higher than the other ones. There is a statistical difference among the four areas in favor of noun derivational suffixes. (See Table (

Conclusions
In the light of the analysis, the following conclusions have been arrived at: 1. The results find out that there is no statistically significant differences among the four areas under study in the recognition level. This shows that the Iraqi learners recognize all the derivation suffixes at the same level. 2. The results also point out that there is a statistically significant difference between the recognition and production of the Iraqi learners in favor of the production. This means that the Iraqi learners' level in production is better than their level in recognition. 3. There is a statistical difference among the four areas in favor of noun derivational suffixes. This signifies that the Iraqi learners' production of the nominal suffixes is better than the other types of suffixes. This shows that the nominal suffixes are easier to the learners than other suffixes.

Recommendations
On the basis of the results of the research stated above, the following recommendations are suggested: 1. Intensive practice is needed in mastering the different types of the derivational suffixes in English. 2. EFL instructors are advised to attract EFL learners' attention that derivational suffixes can be identified for the first time by the meaning rather than by position. 3. Attracting learners' attention to morpheme clues in recognizing derivational suffixes, which is an important way for EFL learners to know the part of speech of the word. 4. Practice in an amusing way is the shortest method to make EFL learners master producing derivational suffixes in writing and speaking. 5. EFL instructors should concentrate on the most difficult derivational suffixes to language learners.

Suggestions for further Studies
In the light of the results obtained, the following suggestions for further studies can be put forward: 1. A similar study may be conducted in other colleges for both genders (males and females). 2. A similar study may be conducted to compare between the learners' ability to recognize and produce different types of prefixes in English.

The Test
The present test has been designed primarily to investigate Iraqi EFL learners' recognition and production of the derivational suffixes in English. The first question measures the students' responses in recognizing the derivational suffixes, while the second question measures their production of these suffixes.