입력과 출력중심 및 복합 형태초점 의사소통 활동과 학습자의 사전지식 수준이 목표문법 학습에 미치는 영향

The effects of input-based, output-based, and combined focus-on-form instruction and learners' prior knowledge on the learning of a target feature

The present study sought to investigate the effects of different focus-an-form tasks and learners' prior knowledge on the learning of a given target grammar feature. To this end, 10 intact classes with 278 college students were assigned to four different experimental groups (input, output, input-output, and output-input) and one control group, and were asked to take pretest and posttest, Input tasks involved textually enhanced reading materials and comprehension questions, while output tasks employed picture-cued writing tasks. Four different levels of the learners' prior knowledge of the target feature were also determined based on their answers to the pretest. The results showed that the four experimental groups outperformed the control group on both comprehension and production tests, with no significant differences found among the four experimental groups. Furthermore, learners with little knowledge showed the most improvements on the comprehension test. In addition, significantly different interaction effects were found, which showed that among the learners with some knowledge of the target feature, the two combined groups (the input-output group and the output-input group) outperformed the control group on the production tests. Pedagogical implications and directions for future research are provided.