This study emerges from an interest in the shortcomings in the production of grammatically accurate sentences by university students of English as a Foreign Language in Taiwan. Informed by second language acquisition theory, it is a quasi-experimental investigation of the effects of explicit grammatical instruction on university students ’ EFL learning. Following the application of a pre-test the experimental group experienced explicit form-focused instruction in a communicative language teaching classroom for two semesters, receiving enhanced written input and undertaking linguistic consciousness-raising task, while the control group received no explicit grammatical instruction. Data were collected from recognition and written production tasks and students were interviewed on their linguistic performance to provide methodological triangulation. The statistical tools of Paired and Independent T-test, Chi-square, and Pearson’s Correlation were used to determine whether there were significant inter- and intra-group differences based on the different classroom experience. The major findings of this study were that explicit grammatical instruction raised students’ level of awareness of targeted forms significantly as they processed linguistic input and that subsequently their accurate production of these forms was enhanced. Differences in significance levels were discussed in the light of current debate on Second Language Acquisition with particular reference to the accessibility of Universal Grammar and the iv Minimalist framework. The results of this research indicate that a combination of focus on form and meaning is to be recommended within the content-based curriculum in Taiwanese university classrooms and the thesis ends with pedagogical implications for the application of explicit form-focused instruction in EFL learning.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:569590 |
| Date | January 2011 |
| Creators | Wen, Ya Ting |
| Publisher | University of Aberdeen |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://digitool.abdn.ac.uk:80/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=192196 |
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