Fostering Morphological Awareness in German as a Foreign Language: Exploring Word Formation Strategies.

The article critically reviews existing research on morphological awareness—defined as the ability to identify, analyze, and manipulate the smallest meaningful units of language—and its role in learning German as a Foreign Language (GFL). It highlights that word formation processes in German, such as derivation, compounding, and conversion, are often underemphasized or inaccurately presented in GFL teaching materials, despite evidence that fostering morphological awareness benefits vocabulary acquisition, reading comprehension, and pronunciation for both native and nonnative speakers. The article advocates for explicit, structured instructional interventions targeting morphological reflection at pre-intermediate proficiency levels, incorporating strategies like hyperlinguistic awareness, lexical guessing, and mediation skills, while emphasizing the need for reliable assessment tools tailored to German. It concludes that sustained, cyclical teaching approaches are necessary to develop learners' autonomy and morphological competence, and calls for further research including standardized testing and longitudinal studies to evaluate instructional effectiveness in GFL contexts.