161 / 2018-06-29 21:59:19

Effects of Output Task Types on Noticing and Acquisition of English Passive Voice

output; task types; noticing; English passive voice

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There is now a consensus within the second language acquisition (SLA) field that attention to certain linguistic features (form) in input is necessary for learning to take place, therefore, how to draw learners’ attention to target linguistic features effectively so as to promote the learning of those forms is the current interest of researchers as well as language teachers. The present study set out to explore the noticing function of output hypothesis implementing two output-based focus on form tasks (cloze reconstruction task and editing reconstruction task) on noticing and acquisition of English passive voice. The study followed pretest-treatment-posttests design. In this study, 79 university students in Inner Mongolia were divided into three groups (two experimental groups and one control group). The noticing and acquisition are measured through underling scores and multiple-choice test scores respectively. The underlining scores indicate that output tasks do trigger noticing and thus lend support to the output hypothesis. However, in terms of acquisition, the facilitating effect of output is not confirmed in both immediate posttest and delayed posttest. Short nature of the treatment and the proficiency level of the participants are responsible for this. The findings suggest that teachers should take into consideration their students' proficiency level and task difficulties when designing classroom activities.