An Effect of a Direct Method on 5th Grade Students’ Acquisition of Verb Inflection Morphemes (- S, - Es, - Ed, - Ing)

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether or not a direct method could help 5th graders acquire the target verb inflectional morphemes (- s, - es , - ed , - ing) at Assumption College Ubon Ratchathani (ACU), Ubon Ratchathani, Thailand. The participants were 6 5th grade students who were divided into two groups based on their English proficiency: low language proficiency and high language proficiency. Data were collected from different sources: the scores of the pre – test and post – test, the participants’ usage of verb inflectional morphemes (-s, -es, -ed, and – ing) as shown in the Video (VDO) transcript, and the follow-up interview, which was mainly concerned with the students on the direct method. Results obtained from the present study showed that this teaching method yielded a positive outcome related to the participants’ acquisition of verb inflectional morphemes. They also proved useful for developing the participants’ proficiency in other language skills, such as listening and speaking.