Morpheme Analysis and the Communicative ESL Classroom

Abstract

This paper suggests that undue focus is often given to some communicative aspects of Communicative Language Teachingin ELICOS classrooms at the expense of language teaching which cultivates an understanding of how the target language operates to enable communication to take place. It argues that an understanding of the behaviour of English morphemes is important for ELICOS students' development of communicative competence, and that such an understanding can effectively be fostered within a communicatively oriented classroom.