Derivational and Inflectional Morphemes Used in Students’ Argumentative Essay

Abstract

This study analyzes the derivational and inflectional morphemes used in argumentative essays written by students. This study aims to determine the word formation and dominant categories of derivational and inflectional morphemes found in argumentative essays written by students. This study was conducted using a descriptive qualitative approach and the documentation technique to collect data. This investigation utilized humans as its instrument. All categories of derivational and inflectional morphemes were found in students' argumentative essays. There are three dominant categories of inflectional morphemes: 228 morphemes in the verb to noun category, 51 morphemes in the noun to adjective category, and 20 morphemes in the adjective to adverb category. Two categories dominate the derivational morpheme, with 292 morphemes belonging to the -s as plural category and 20 morphemes belonging to the -ed as past tense category. The results of the present research have shone some light on the field of English teaching context and are discussed herein.