Abstract:
It would be a relief for ESL teachers anywhere in the world to have a knowledge about
the order of acquisition of grammatical morphemes of their students, especially in
designing syllabus and in assessment. Morpheme order studies help language teachers in
determining the acquisition order of morphemes by the learners and thereby design a
more learner- centered curriculum. Being the first of its kind. the rationale behind this
study is to find out whether adult ESL learners in Sri Lanka produce grammatical
morphemes as predicted by previous morpheme order studies in English and thereby use
the findings to assist curriculum design. The production of English morphemes was
observed in the writing of 35 Sri Lankan adult ESL learners in a university setting.
Essays written by ESL learners in Sri Lanka were analyzed for determining the
acquisition of grammatical morphemes. The results showed an order of morpheme
production close to the order of acquisition of English grammatical morphemes by ESL
learners with diverse 1,1 backgrounds in previous research. The findings are discussed in
terms of the pedagogical implications for curriculum design, lesson material preparation
and suggestions for future research in this field.
