Natdanai Subin. A case study on assessing acquisition order of English inflectional morphemes of Thai deaf university students. Master's Degree(Applied Linguistics). Mahidol University. Mahidol University Library and Knowledge Center. : Mahidol University, 2020.
A case study on assessing acquisition order of English inflectional morphemes of Thai deaf university students
Abstract:
Morphemes are fundamental in English learning. However, deaf students usually have difficulty in acquiring English morphemes. The objectives of this study were to assess 9 English morpheme acquisition order and to identify types of inflectional morphemes which seem to be difficult for Thai deaf university students (based on Krashen's 1977 Natural Order Hypothesis). The researcher collected data by asking 37 Thai deaf university students to complete 18 fill-in-the-blank questions, adapted from Berko's WUG test in 1958. Data were analyzed by means of frequency, percentage, mean, and standard deviation (SD). The results indicated the order of English inflectional morpheme acquisition as performed by Thai deaf university students as following: 1) articles (M =1.38, SD= 0.10), 2) plural (M =1.36, SD=0.10), 3) regular past tense (M=1.28, SD= 0.08), 4) progressive (M= 1.22, SD=0.05), 5) 3rd person singular simple present tense (M=1.16, SD=0.07), 6) auxiliary (M=1.53/3.00, SD=0.09), 7) irregular past tense (M=1.46, SD=0.09), 8) copula (M= 0.41, SD= 0.04), and 9) possessive (M=0.39, SD=0.04). Based on Dulay and Burt's Bilingual Syntax Measure (BSM), the 3rd person singular simple present tense, auxiliary, irregular past tense, copula, and possessive seem difficult for the participants. The findings from this study can be used for further pedagogical and curriculum development in teaching English inflectional morphemes to Thai deaf students.