The Awareness of the English Word-formation Mechanisms is a Necessity to Make an Autonomous L2 Learner in EFL Context

The purpose of this paper is to emphasize the issue of word-formation mechanisms in the area of foreign language learning / teaching, and to provide a critical view on the selected English language coursebooks series named Action Pack from the viewpoint of vocabulary selection and teaching techniques they employ. Vocabulary, as compared, for instance, with language functions and other grammatical structures, is still assigned to parts of speech (noun, verb, adverb, adjective, etc.) by a method which goes back for two millennia (Matthews,1974). The new communicative trends disregard the role of word-formation mechanisms; they focus on syntax and/or vocabulary without analyzing the mechanisms involved in the creation of new lexical items. As is pointed out by Lessard-Clouston (1996), EFL materials are often organized along the lines of the four major skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing, vocabulary, on the other hand, is seldom explicitly mentioned, although it is always present. In other words, learning of English wordformation mechanisms is seen as a by-product of other linguistic learning. No wonder, then, that vocabulary is less systematically taught and learnt than other aspects of the FL. Since words play an important role in expressing our feelings, and ideas to others during the act of communication, FL teachers should attribute importance to teaching word-formation in their classes. Textbooks play a pivotal role in the realm of language teaching and learning and they are looked upon as an indispensable vehicle for FL learning. The paper has two main objectives: first, the morphological system including word-formation mechanisms will be reviewed, second, to clarify and discuss the necessity for word-formation teaching to learners of EFL context.