On Derivational Morphemes: Grammatical Competence of College Students

Abstract

Morphology is one of the several branches of linguistics that can help students highlight particular words and decode them. Teachers or lecturers should implement and develop a variety of strategies and instruction to promote students' grammatical competence so that students comprehend the importance of morphological roles in teaching-learning English. This study aimed to determine the grammatical competence of college students. Specifically, it sought to answer the level of grammatical competence of 93 Education English major students of Pangasinan State University (PSU) on derivational morphemes and difference in the respondents’ grammatical competence when categorized in terms of demographic characteristics such as type of senior high school last attended and preferred reading materials in English. The descriptive survey method was utilized as the research described and attempted to interpret the level of grammatical competence on derivational morphemes of Education English major students and how the grammatical competence of the respondents differs when categorized in terms of the aforementioned demographic characteristics. Survey and written test questionnaires were used as instruments of this study. Findings revealed that majority of the college students were found to have high grammatical competence on derivational morphemes. Instrumental to this are the demographic characteristics such as type of senior high school last attended and most preferred reading materials in English which affected grammatical competence. Thus, grammatical competence on derivational morphemes would mean proficiency in word formation processes and its underlying complexities.