The development of suffixal construal among Moroccan learners of English as a Foreign Language: A cognitive linguistic approach

The acquisition of derivational suffixes is a very important aspect of language acquisition. This is especially true for English as a Foreign Language (EFL), as English is considered a highly derivational language. In line with the cognitive assumption that the meaning of a linguistic item includes the specific way its conceptual content is construed, this paper aimed to cross-sectionally examine the acquisition of the construal evoked by four suffixes: –ion, –al, –ment, and –ce. To this end, a three-task instrument (word formation, sentence completion, and interpretation tasks) was designed and administered to Moroccan EFL university students across four study levels: BA – S2, BA – S4, BA – S6, and MA – S2. Data analysis revealed several key findings. First, performance on the overall test differed among the groups, suggesting an effect of study level on the acquisition of suffixal construal. Group performance on the individual tasks showed an effect of study level in the word formation and sentence completion tasks, but performance on the interpretation task was rather similar. Furthermore, groups performed better on more frequent suffixes (–ion and –ment) than on less frequent suffixes (–al and –ce). It is concluded that the frequency of a suffix has an effect on the acquisition of its construal, providing practical implications for teaching.