مشخصات پژوهش

Reading comprehension is a critical skill for EFL learners, particularly in academic settings where much of the learning material is text-based. However, Iraqi EFL learners, like many others learning English in foreign language contexts, often struggle with reading comprehension due to a lack of sufficient linguistic knowledge (Al-Dosari, 2016). While vocabulary size has traditionally been emphasized as a key factor in L2 reading comprehension, there is growing evidence that other linguistic components, such as morphological knowledge, play an equally important role in successful reading comprehension (Carlisle, 2010). Morphological knowledge refers to an individual’s understanding of word structure, including the meanings and functions of roots, affixes, and word formation processes. This understanding is crucial for decoding unfamiliar words and making inferences while reading. Studies (e.g., Kieffer & Lesaux, 2012; Nagy, Berninger, & Abbott, 2006) have shown that learners with a strong morphological awareness can derive meaning from complex words by analyzing their morphemes, thereby improving their reading comprehension. In investigating the mechanisms underlying the way morphological awareness affects reading comprehension, Deacon and Levesque (2024) indicated that morphological awareness led to improvements in reading comprehension through the mediation of both morphological decoding and analysis. Despite these findings, research specifically focusing on Iraqi EFL learners and their morphological knowledge remains scarce. At the same time, vocabulary depth, or the extent to which learners understand the multiple meanings, forms, and uses of a word, is recognized as another important predictor of reading comprehension (Qian, 2002). Vocabulary depth involves not just the knowledge of a word’s definition but also how that word functions in different contexts, its morphological variations, and its relation to other words in the language (Schmidt, 2010). Vocabulary