Effects of Focus-on-Form with New Sentences and Contexts

Abstract

The study investigates whether focus-on-form (FonF) instruction is effective in teaching an English grammatical item to Japanese learners, with attention to three points which seem crucial but have been overlooked in previous studies in Japan: (a) to compare the difference of effectiveness between FonF and Focus on FormS (FonFS), (b) to induce learners to experience noticing-a-hole, noticing-the-gap, and noticing-a-form process through input and output of new sentences in contexts, which helps them acquire a target grammatical item, and (c) to ensure that in tests learners construct and produce sentences in contexts which they never hear or read during instruction. First-year students at a Japanese junior high school were divided into two groups, one an experimental group, who were given FonF instruction on infinitives, and the other a control group, who were given FonFS instruction on infinitives. Degree of acquisition of the target grammar was measured with immediate post and delayed test, and the experimental group scored higher at the delayed test. The results show that effects of FonF last longer than those of FonFS, and that (b) and (c) above are essential elements of effective FonF instruction.