Potential Differences in Adult Male Jordanians' Employment of Morphology, Phonology, Syntax and Semantics-Knowledge in Incidental English Lexical Acquisition

Document from the year 2016 in the subject Didactics for the subject English - Pedagogy, Literature Studies, grade: 91.1, , language: English, abstract: This study aims at investigating the potential differences in employing different linguistic knowledge sources by adult male Jordanian English speakers. To this end, a lexical inferring test was used to instigate any previously acquired knowledge in morphology, phonology, syntax and semantics by 16 Jordanians. Data was then analyzed statistically and categorized according to the employed linguistic knowledge sources. Results showed that participants generally tended to use a single linguistic knowledge source at a time. They relied more heavily and successfully on their previous knowledge in semantics followed by morphological analysis, whereas reliance on syntax was least used, followed by dependence on phonological relationships which was the most misleading. Differences appeared in terms of the frequency of using each linguistic knowledge source as well as the success of making use of each source. Differences can be ascribed to variance in length of individual's previous English learning experience and time given to formal instruction on applying their knowledge to reading-based lexical learning tasks. The study highlights the importance of knowledge in linguistics as a prerequisite to support cognitive processing, to overcome limited lexical knowledge and to facilitate lexical acquisition. The study has implications for lexical studies and second language acquisition.

Awni Shati Mohammad Etaywe is a Full Member of the Jordanian Association of Translators and Applied Linguists (JATAL), which is a member of the International Association of Applied Linguistics (AILA). He holds a Master Degree of Arts in Applied Linguistics from Jordan University of Science and Technology (with plus grande distinction). In 2002, he was awarded King Abdullah II Award for the top cadet in English Language and Military Science department, Mu'tah University/Military Branch, Jordan. In 2004, he was commissioned from the UK Royal Military Academy Sandhurst where he was introduced to the world of leadership and management, and was awarded the Commandant's War Studies Paper award for the best overseas writing-cadet. He has several diplomas and certificates in management, including: NGO and Volunteer Work Management (with distinction) from the German-Jordanian University; HR Management certificate from DRMI, Navy Postgraduate School, Monterey, California; Project management (from PMI JO); Sustainable Business-Managing the Triple Bottom Line from Alison, Ireland. Mr. Etaywe has served as a head of translation division at Jordan Armed Forces-Center for Studies and Lessons Learned, and as a linguist and liaison officer at the United Nations Stabilization Mission in DRC (MONUSCO), and the United Nations Mission in Eritrea and Ethiopia (UNMEE). He has received a number of medals and awards from the United Nations, Jordan Armed Forces, and the German-Jordanian University. As a linguist, he has been recently recognized by the US Center for Army Lessons Learned (US CALL) for his standard of excellence and professionalism in support of the multinational Exercise Eager Lion. He is the co-author of Lessons Learned Précis (in Arabic), the author of Leadership Précis: Situational and Adaptive Leadership (in Arabic), Fundamental English Grammar Review, Petra Treasury of Essential Idioms and Multi-part Verbs (English-Arabic), and Step by Step into TOEFL-like National Exam. He is the translator of the 'US Kauffman Foundation's Fast-Trac New Venture Manual' and the co-translator of the 'US Kauffman Foundation's Fast-Trac Tech-Entrepreneur Manual'. His fields of interest include Pragmatics, Sociolinguistics, forensic linguistics and Discourse Analysis.