Morphological Awareness in TOEIC Word-Form Questions: An Item-Type Analysis of EFL Learners' Performance and Perceptions

Morphological awareness plays an important role in second and foreign language reading and vocabulary development. However, relatively little empirical research has examined how learners perform on different types of morphological items in standardized English proficiency tests such as the Test of English for International Communication (TOEIC). The present study investigates EFL learners' performance across morphological item types on a TOEIC-style word-form test and examines the relationship between test performance and self-reported reading confidence. A total of 277 university students in South Korea completed a 30-item TOEIC-style morphological test alongside a background survey. The test demonstrated good internal consistency (Cronbach's α = .882). Results showed that noun items yielded the highest accuracy rate (66.3%), while participial and comparative forms were most difficult (44.4%). A one-way ANOVA confirmed significant differences across item types, F(4, 1380) = 40.05, p < .001. Spearman's rank-order correlation revealed a significant positive association between reading confidence and test scores (ρ = .278, p < .001). The findings underscore the importance of explicit morphological instruction in TOEIC preparation and EFL pedagogy more broadly.