Applying focus on form in EFL classes: Focus on form through input flood, output, and corrective feedback

IV ABSTRACT The recent SLA research has lent support to the effectiveness of "focus on form", which was introduced by Long (1991) as a treatment that draws learners' attention to linguistic features of language in primarily meaning-based contexts, in learning the target language as a second language (Ellis, 2001). Therefore, the present study experimentally investigates which type of focus on form - Input Flood, Input+Output, or Input+Output+Feedback - is more effective in promoting the learning of English as a foreign language both in the short-term and in the long-term. For this purpose, the three different focus-on-form treatments were delivered to three experimental groups throughout 6 hours in a 2-week period. In total, 65 intermediate level learners, studying at Anadolu University, School of Foreign Languages, participated in the study. The targeted forms were Type 2 and Type 3 conditionals in English. Before and after the treatment, the subjects were given a pretest and a posttest to see the differential effects of the three focus-on-form treatments, and a 5-week delayed posttest to see long-term effects of the treatments. The data collected from the tests were analyzed through two-way ANOVA and a post hoc Tukey test to see whether the treatments are effective or not. Also, one-way ANOVA and a post hoc Tukey test were administered to see which treatment is superior to another. The statistical analysis of the data demonstrated that the Input Flood treatment is not effective, while Input+Output and Input+Output+Feedback treatments, having similar effects, are significantly effective in learning the target forms. Similar results were found for the long-term effects of the treatments. Consequently, the results provide support for the claim that output-based focus-on-form treatment, whether it is complemented with corrective feedback or not, has positive effects on learning English as a foreign language.