Affixes as a strategy for vocabulary acquisition in a first-year ESL college reading course

The purpose of this practitioner action research project was to explore the impact of direct instruction of affixes to promote vocabulary acquisition and improve reading comprehension. The project was carried out at the Colegio Universitario de San Juan, Hato Rey, Puerto Rico with 30 first year students of English as second language (ESL), whose first language is Spanish, enrolled in the Basic Skills in English 0100 course.; The methodology included an intervention plan in three stages: Stage I: Pre-Intervention: Initial questionnaire and group interviews. Stage II: Intervention: A short pre test (quiz 1) on new vocabulary using affixes and new words used in context, pre-reading direct instruction on using selected affixes to form new words and the use of these words in context, class discussion of a selected reading, and after-reading vocabulary short test (quiz 2). At this stage, participants were asked to write a reflective minute paper describing their experience with the project. At Stage III: Post-intervention, there were final group interviews and a reflective minute paper. Group interviews were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed and information from the interviews was compared to comments arising in the student's minute papers and initial questionnaire through emergent categories.; The findings of this action research offered this practitioner information on students' prior experience with learning vocabulary as well as experiential information on the direct instruction of affixes to promote students' awareness and use of affixes to increase their word knowledge.; The project was also carried out with the purpose of promoting additional research and contributing with data on the use of different approaches and teaching strategies for ESL students in Puerto Rico.