Morphological productivity: Its importance for the English language teacher

Bauer, L. (2023). Morphological productivity: Its importance for the English language teacher. New Zealand Studies in Applied Linguistics, 29(1). https://doi.org/10.59690/on21847

For the theoretical linguist, productivity (the extent to which a particular affix can be used to create previously unknown forms) is a major descriptive problem (Bauer, 2001). For the language teacher, the awkward theoretical problems need not cause difficulties, but a distinction does need to be drawn between unproductive, slightly productive and extremely productive affixes if students are to be given the maximal possible support in using morphology to help understand and learn new words. Knowing about morphology is important at any stage of learning a language; but the pedagogical implications of morphological structure are not the same at all levels of language learning, and productivity is one of the factors teachers need to bear in mind in planning their curricula.

Keywords: morphology, productivity, English language