EXPLORING MORPHOLOGY IN ACADEMIC WRITING: AN ANALYSIS OF ERRORS BY UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS OF ENGLISH AT A PUBLIC SECTOR UNIVERSITY IN PAKISTAN

Abstract

This study deals with how undergraduate students of English department at a public sector university in Sindh Pakistan, use English morphemes in the context of their academic writing with a description of the common mistakes they tend to make and why such errors occur. The researcher has studied both building blocks of English words, inflectional and derivational morphemes. This research study makes it clear that, even with respect to grammar rules as well as word formation and compounding issues, students often seem to run into a wall. The researcher used a qualitative approach and collected 20 students’ essays, analyzed them for patterns of morphological errors. This finding show that students often misuse plural forms, verb agrees and suffixes or prefixes as they often don’t know how the English word structure is supposed to be, i.e. mismanagements, underqualify and plural verb plays with singular subjects. These problems entail that much more emphasis should be placed on teaching English morphology in the classroom. Teachers should teach their students exactly how to use morphemes properly, improve their grammar and vocabulary. The point of this research is that in our classrooms, students should be better instructed in English word formation so that they can write more accurately and more confidently.