An Exploration of Focus on Form Instruction on Grammatical Competence of Iranian EFL Learners Utilizing Input Enhancement Technique

Abstract

Upholding the integration of form and meaning, focus on form approach can increase both accuracy and fluency of EFL learners. This paper evaluates the role of focus on form approach, i.e. input enhancement, on the acquisition of passive voice in English. The degree of implicitness or explicitness of instruction is explored whether it affects learning of a specific form of the language. The pretest-treatment-posttest design was used in this quasi-experimental research with two groups: experimental (n=20) and control (n= 17). First, a proficiency test was administered to guarantee the learners' homogeneity. Then, a pretest was administered to examine the learners' passive voice knowledge. The experimental group received the instruction through input enhancement technique. However, it was taught to the control group through the traditional method (i.e. focus on formS). The superiority of focus on form technique over the focus on formS was revealed through the one-way ANOVA and post hoc test. It can be claimed that the findings of this study are important for second and foreign language learning and teaching in that it indicated the advantage of input enhancement technique of focus on form approach over the traditional one – i.e. focus on formS – in strengthening of grammatical competence in intermediate EFL learners.