Master of Arts
Webb, Stuart A.
The present study investigated the extent to which L1 English speakers and L2 English learners could produce the derivatives of 90 head words in a decontextualized derivative recall test. This research also examined whether productive derivational knowledge varied between institutional levels (i.e., graduate, undergraduate, and high school) and vocabulary levels (i.e., 1000-5000). The results indicated that L1 speakers had greater productive derivational knowledge than L2 learners. However, no significant differences were found between L1 speakers and the advanced L2 learners. The results also indicated that the degree to which L2 learners have productive derivational knowledge significantly varied between the institutional levels and vocabulary levels. The findings provide some evidence that L2 productive derivational knowledge may develop in a similar way as L1 productive derivational knowledge does. The findings also provide important pedagogical and methodological implications.
Summary for Lay Audience
Derivational knowledge, the ability to understand and use derivatives of a word, plays an important role in lexical development (Anglin, 1993; Nation, 2013; Thorndike, 1941). While receptive derivational knowledge has received considerable attention in first language (L1) and second language (L2) acquisition studies (e.g., McLean, 2017; Mochizuki & Aizawa, 2000; Nagy, Diakidoy, & Anderson, 1993; Sasao & Webb, 2017; Tyler & Nagy, 1989; Ward & Chuenjundaeng, 2009), little is known about L1 speakers and L2 learners’ productive derivational knowledge.
Research has shown that L2 learners’ ability to produce derivatives may be limited (Schmitt & Meara, 1997; Schmitt & Zimmerman, 2002). L1 research has primarily investigated young L1 learners’ ability to produce derivatives and found that this knowledge develops rather slowly and incrementally (e.g., McCutchen & Stull, 2015). The present study investigated the extent to which adult L1 speakers and L2 learners with differing institutional levels and vocabulary levels have productive derivational knowledge and how their ability varied. The findings indicated that L1 speakers have greater productive derivational knowledge than L2 learners. However, no significant difference was found between L1 speakers and the advanced L2 learner groups. The findings also indicated that L2 learners’ ability to produce different derivatives of a word varied significantly between different institutional levels and vocabulary levels.
Iwaizumi, Emi, "To What Extent Do L1 Speakers and L2 Learners Have Productive Derivational Knowledge" (2019). Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository. 6604.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.