ERIC Number: EJ845975
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2005
Pages: 19
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1481-868X
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Effectiveness of Focus-on-Forms Instruction: Different Outcomes on Constrained- and Free-Production Tasks?
Corbeil, Giselle
Canadian Journal of Applied Linguistics / Revue canadienne de linguistique appliquee, v8 n1 p27-45 2005
The purpose of this study is to investigate how focus-on-forms instruction in second language teaching affects attention to forms in two different types of task: constrained and free production. These two different types of task were administered to 87 university students enrolled in a first-year French as a second language course before and after instruction on qualifying adjective agreement. Comparisons were made between learning-gain differences from pre- to post-tests for both tasks. Significant differences between pre- and post-test scores were found for both tasks. Although the difference between the two tasks was not significant, the learning-gain difference was somewhat higher for the constrained-production task than for the free-production task. When the total number of adjectives used in the compositions was broken down into colour adjectives and non-colour adjectives, no significant learning gains were observed between the two categories, although the learning gains for the non-colour adjectives was twice as high as for the colour adjectives. Possible explanations for these results are discussed. (Contains 4 tables, 1 note, and 1 footnote.)
Descriptors: Form Classes (Languages), Second Language Learning, Grammar, Teaching Methods, Instructional Effectiveness, Scores, Second Language Instruction, French, Achievement Gains, Pretests Posttests, Comparative Analysis, Foreign Countries, Undergraduate Students, Statistical Analysis
Canadian Association of Applied Linguistics / Association canadienne de linguistique appliquee. Departement de langues, linguistique et traduction, Pavillon de Koninck, Universite Laval, Quebec, QC G1K 7P4, Canada. Web site: http://www.aclacaal.org
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
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Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Canada
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A