The Effects of Consciousness-raising Tasks on Young Learners’ L2 Grammar Learning

This study investigates the efficacy of consciousness-raising (CR) tasks on promoting Korean primary students’ learning of English comparative structure. In order to examine differential effectiveness stemmed from differences in task type, two CR tasks - hypothesis building and text repair were selected, and they were compared with deductive grammar instruction. The effects of each instructional treatment were measured by analyzing data from oral test and written test. Results showed that both text repair task and hypothesis building task created significant learning gains yet there was no significant difference between two tasks. Data analysis, however, revealed that only hypothesis building group performed significantly better than control group. More favorable results from hypothesis building task were discussed in two perspectives; 1) differences in task types might result in qualitative distinctions of learners’ engagement and hypothesis building was better condition leading to a more active reasoning process, 2) teacher’s guidance might be significant mediator for bringing successful learning process and outcomes in implementing CR tasks. The results of this study thus supports the beneficial role of CR tasks on primary students’ L2 grammar learning. Succeeding research is required to further explore the effects of CR tasks in a more refined way which includes elaborate operation of related variables such as task demand or teacher’s guidance.