The Effect of Input Enhancement with ExplicitInstruction on Iranian Intermediate EFL Learners Immediate and Delayed Retention of Agreement

The Effect of Input Enhancement with ExplicitInstruction on Iranian Intermediate EFL Learners Immediate and Delayed Retention of Agreement

Although the development and assessment of L2 learners grammatical knowledge are common in classroom context, it is not clear what their most effective way of doing them in the teaching –learning process. Thisquasi-experimental study compared the effect of input enhancement with explicit instruction on Iranian intermediate EFL learners immediate and delayed retention of agreement so to be sure about the homogeneity of participants, fifty –five Learnerswere selected via administering PET test. They were at intermediate level and in two intact classes and age range was 15-19. The experimental group was received input enhancement with explicit instruction. The control group did not receive both input enhancement and explicit instruction, the just engaged in activities’ that contained agreement. Two groups had pretest, post-test and delayed post test. The learners had three treatment sessions, the experimental group had Untimed Grammaticality Judgment Test was administered in all testing sessions in order to test the effectiveness of treatments on explicit language knowledge. Timed Grammaticality Judgment Test was administered in all testing sessions in order to measure the effectiveness of treatments on implicit language knowledge. They had the same questions in all of the tests. pre-test, post-test and delayed post test. However, the order of questions of the tests items was different to reduce the test familiarity effect. Both groups received texts containing examples of the agreement while they were underlined and bolded. But the experimental group was received explicit instruction on the use of agreement. This group had the activities that helped learners to learn different agreement features. The analysis of data by SPSSrevealed thatthe experimental group in post test and delayed post test had better performance than the control group. Findings of the present study are useful for EFL teachers, learners, language institutes, schools, and universities.

Although the development and assessment of L2 learners grammatical knowledge are common in classroom context, it is not clear what their most effective way of doing them in the teaching –learning process. Thisquasi-experimental study compared the effect of input enhancement with explicit instruction on Iranian intermediate EFL learners immediate and delayed retention of agreement so to be sure about the homogeneity of participants, fifty –five Learnerswere selected via administering PET test. They were at intermediate level and in two intact classes and age range was 15-19. The experimental group was received input enhancement with explicit instruction. The control group did not receive both input enhancement and explicit instruction, the just engaged in activities’ that contained agreement. Two groups had pretest, post-test and delayed post test. The learners had three treatment sessions, the experimental group had Untimed Grammaticality Judgment Test was administered in all testing sessions in order to test the effectiveness of treatments on explicit language knowledge. Timed Grammaticality Judgment Test was administered in all testing sessions in order to measure the effectiveness of treatments on implicit language knowledge. They had the same questions in all of the tests. pre-test, post-test and delayed post test. However, the order of questions of the tests items was different to reduce the test familiarity effect. Both groups received texts containing examples of the agreement while they were underlined and bolded. But the experimental group was received explicit instruction on the use of agreement. This group had the activities that helped learners to learn different agreement features. The analysis of data by SPSSrevealed thatthe experimental group in post test and delayed post test had better performance than the control group. Findings of the present study are useful for EFL teachers, learners, language institutes, schools, and universities.