Exploring the Effect of Morphological Awareness Instruction on Moroccan EFL Learners’ Vocabulary Development

This study investigates the effect of morphological awareness instruction on vocabulary acquisition among Moroccan EFL university students. The research focuses on students’ awareness of analytic and synthetic word formation rules and their impact on vocabulary growth. A convenience sample of 100 participants was divided into an experimental group, which received morphological awareness instruction, and a control group, which followed traditional vocabulary teaching. Pre- and post-intervention data were collected using a Morphological Awareness Test adapted from McBride-Chang et al. (2005). Quantitative analyses, including paired-samples and independent-samples t-tests, revealed that the experimental group showed a significant improvement in morphological awareness and vocabulary scores compared to the control group. These findings suggest that explicit instruction in morphological awareness can support vocabulary development among EFL learners, although results should be interpreted cautiously given the study’s limited sample and single-institution context. The outcomes align with recent research highlighting the positive role of morphological awareness in second language vocabulary acquisition (Zrig, 2021; Anggrisia & Billah, 2024; Winia & Rohmatillah, 2025). Keywords: Vocabulary Growth, Morphological Awareness, Vocabulary Development, EFL learners