VietTESOL International Convention 2026

Morphemic analysis is considered a useful strategy for inferring the meanings of unfamiliar words through prefixes, suffixes, and roots. However, students’ perceptions and experiences of using this strategy in Vietnamese high schools remain underexplored. This study aims to investigate high school students’ perceptions of morphemic analysis strategies and explore the benefits and challenges they experienced when applying them in vocabulary learning. An explanatory sequential mixed-methods design was adopted. Quantitative data were collected from questionnaires completed by 150 Grade 10 students at a public high school, while qualitative data were obtained through semi-structured interviews with 20 students. Quantitative data were analyzed using SPSS 16.0, whereas qualitative data were analyzed thematically. The findings revealed that students generally had positive perceptions of morphemic analysis. They believed that the strategy helped them remember vocabulary, infer word meanings, and expand vocabulary through word families. However, an unexpected finding was that positive perceptions did not always lead to regular strategy use. Although students recognized the usefulness of morphemic analysis, many still preferred using dictionaries, translation apps, or guessing from context when encountering unfamiliar words rather than analyzing prefixes, suffixes, or roots. Students also experienced moderate difficulty and limited confidence when applying the strategy independently. The study suggests that teachers should provide explicit instruction and guided practice, while administrators should support the integration of vocabulary learning strategies into English instruction.