The Frequency of Affixes and Affixed Words in Japanese Junior High School English Textbooks: A Corpus Study

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Abstract

Morphological knowledge is essential for expanding vocabulary. Considering that textbooks are the main source of English-language exposure for learners in Japan, it is important to know to what degree these learners are exposed to affixes and affixed words therein. This study aims to show the number of types of affixes and affixed words contained in Japanese junior high school textbooks. By adding more affixes and allophones than previous studies, the results of this study indicated that both the types and tokens of prefixes and suffixes in the textbooks are limited, thus suggesting that textbooks alone may not be sufficient, and that other materials and/or explicit instructions are needed to improve learners’ morphological knowledge. Junior high school English teachers may utilize the information provided by this study to decide which affixes should be used for explicit instruction. Some implications for teaching affixes are discussed.

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