Focus on form through a dictogloss task: Exploring its effects on the acquisition of the Spanish present subjunctive in complement clauses
Abstract
The present study investigates whether three types of instruction (Focus on Meaning, Focus on FormS and Focus on Form instruction) have differential effects on the acquisition of the Spanish present subjunctive in complement/noun clauses. It seeks to establish whether “dictogloss”, one of the proactive Focus on Form techniques, enhances the acquisition of the target form. Furthermore, it examines if an activity such as dictogloss combined with explicit rule teaching can be more effective than dictogloss alone at enhancing the acquisition of Spanish subjunctive. Ninety-four fifth-level learners of Spanish participated in the study and the instructional treatment was randomly assigned to six intact classes. There was also a Control Group (N=38), constituted by native speakers of Spanish, that did not receive any type of instruction and only took the pre- and post-tests. Treatment Group A-FonM (N=17) received Focus on Meaning instruction, which did not include explicit rule teaching and student engagement in communicative activities was the main and only goal. Treatment Group B-FonFS (N=18) received Focus on FormS instruction. The participants in this group received explicit rule explanations and were required to complete exercises afterwards. Treatment Group C-FonF (N=30) received Focus on Form instruction and took part in a modeled dictogloss, while Treatment Group D-FonF+E (N=29) received Focus on Form instruction with a modeled dictogloss along with explicit rule explanation. The effectiveness of these types of instruction was measured by the learners’ performance on the target grammar point which was evaluated in the following manner using a pretest and posttest and delayed posttest design: (a) an oral production part, consisting of an audio-taped face-to-face interview; (b) a written portion, consisting of a grammar test; (c) another written portion, consisting of a short composition. The results showed that B-FonFS group significantly outperformed A-FonM group and C-FonF group, but there was no statistically significant difference between B-FonFS group and D-FonF + E group in the grammar section. Furthermore, the results showed that overall the B-FonFS group outperformed the other groups, whereas the A-FonM group underperformed all the other groups in every task.
Degree
Ph.D.
Advisors
Wei, Purdue University.
Subject Area
Linguistics|Modern language
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