Error Analysis of EFL Students in Word-Formation Process

This study analyzes errors made by EFL university students in the Word-Formation process, especially in Clipping, Blending, and Compounding. The problem of the study is that many undergraduate students at English departments who study English as a foreign language are uncertain about using the process of word-formation correctly in their post-graduate careers. The study involves (150) English as a Foreign Language undergraduate students (male and female). The results of the study show that the performance of Iraqi EFL learners in the recognition and production tests of the three morphological processes (i.e., Clipping, Blending, and Compounding) is good, with fewer errors according to the mean percentage score of errors for each of the clipping, blending, and compounding processes. Students’ overall performance on the recognition test of the three morphological processes is better than on the production test of the three morphological processes. On average, the performance of EFL students on tests of recognition and production in the three morphological processes is poor. According to the analysis, clipping is found to cause more errors than the blending and compounding processes. These results indicate that the EFL students make errors in the area of the English Word-Formation process (i.e., Clipping, Blending, and Compounding). Finally, it is recommended that more attention should be directed to morphological knowledge in teaching the English language.