Teaching Technical Vocabulary through Word Formation Rules

Technical vocabulary instruction occupies a crucial role in the field of English for science and technology (EST). Recognizing students’ needs and their linguistic background knowledge has a considerable impact on teaching English technical vocabulary for L2 learners. The present study investigates whether word formation rules could help Moroccan computer engineering students learn and recognize vocabulary items related to their specialty. A background questionnaire was administered to 42 undergraduate computer engineering students from the Higher School of Technology. The subjects were also asked to take a technical vocabulary test and a course treatment on word formation rules. The findings revealed that most students were not aware of word formation rules before the instruction. Results of the morphological awareness test showed that the instruction was statistically significant. Thus, the null hypothesis was rejected as the direct instruction on the word formation rules proved to be effective