The Efficacy of Focus on Form on Promoting Second Language Learning

Abstract The disparity between the linguistic knowledge and the communicative abilities which is often observed in the performance of second language (L2) learners has recently shifted the focus of the researchers toward the FonF paradigm. Having the ability to draw the learnersʹ attention to the target linguistic features in the input, FonF, as an appealing approach is thought to balance between the linguistic knowledge and communicative abilities. The present paper attempts to investigate the conditions under which the acquisition of passive syntactic structures and morphological markers of tense can be maximized, and to examine differences in noticing and learning of syntactic structures vs. morphological markers of tense. On this account, the adult college students, who had enrolled for general English, were selected for the study. They were assigned to three classes, and each class received one of the three different types of instructions: non-enhanced (NoFonF), enhanced (implicit FonF), and enhanced plus practice (explicit FonF). Results of the study revealed that explicit FonF group performed significantly better than the implicit FonF group. The study argues for the adoption of a particular type of explicit instruction – one which promotes noticing and understanding of the target linguistic features.