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Article published In:
Journal of Second Language Studies
Vol. 4:1 (2021) ► pp.19–47

The differential impact of the timing of form-focused instruction on the acquisition of the past counterfactual conditional and framing expressions for English questions

| Jubail Industrial College
| King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi

This study compared the effect of the timing of form-focused instruction (FFI) on the acquisition of the past counterfactual conditional (PCC) and framing expressions (FEs) for English questions. Sixty-three EFL adult learners received a total of six hours of isolated or integrated FFI on the target features. Acquisition was measured by means of cloze tests and interviews. The results obtained from a mixed-design ANOVA indicated that the learners in the two experimental groups made significant gains on the two language measures. A dependent t-test revealed that the two target structures responded differentially to the timing of form-focused instruction. We discuss some of the theoretical and pedagogical implications of these findings.

Keywords: form-focused instruction, timing
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Literature review
  • 3.Method
    • 3.1Participants
    • 3.2Target structures and materials
    • 3.3Design and procedures
    • 3.4Instructional treatment
      • 3.4.1Form-focused instruction
      • 3.4.2Main activity
    • 3.5Instruments
    • 3.6Analysis
  • 4.Results
    • 4.1The effect of the timing of FFI on the learning of the two target features
      • 4.1.1Written tests
      • 4.1.2Oral interviews
    • 4.2The differential effect of the timing of focus on form on the target features
      • 4.2.1Written tests
      • 4.2.2Oral interviews
  • 5.Discussion
    • 5.1The effect of the timing of focus on form on the learning of the target structures
    • 5.2The differential effect of the timing of focus on form on the acquisition of the two structures
      • 5.2.1The difference between the two experimental groups on the written tests
      • 5.2.2The differences between the two experimental groups on the oral interviews
  • 6.Limitations and future research
  • 7.Conclusion and implications
  • References
Published online: 16 April 2021
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/jsls.00015.sae
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