Effects of Input Processing and Output-enriched Consciousness-raising Instruction on Learning Different Types of English Verb Forms

Effects of Input Processing and Output-enriched Consciousness-raising Instruction on Learning Different Types of English Verb Forms

  The goal of this study is to explore an effective grammar teaching method by investigating the effects of two form-focused instruction techniques, i.e., input processing (IP) instruction and output-enriched consciousness-raising (CR) instruction. Specifically, this study examines which one of these techniques promotes Korean students’ acquisition of English simple past and present perfect. The participants in this study are 52 university students in their first year. The students first took a written pretest and received grammar instruction in pairs or groups, using different techniques: one group with IP instructional methods, and the other with CR instruction. Each treatment was offered to the subjects for two weeks. One week after the treatment, both groups underwent a first written posttest. The findings showed that both instruction techniques were similarly effective in comprehending and producing the target forms in the posttest. Concerning the difficulty of forms, both groups did not have a significant difference in learning both difficult and easy forms. After the first posttest, the learners did not receive any treatment, but only took regular lessons of English reading. In a second delayed posttest, both groups maintained the effects of each instruction. The results of this study indicate that in an EFL context of Korean classrooms where most students are interlanguage speakers, instructing through focus on form in groups or pairs must be effective for learners to have more communicative competence and to develop accurate English grammar at the same time.