Effects of meaningful input-based and meaningful output-based grammar instruction on Taiwanese senior high school students' learning of English relative clauses

• Main Authors: Miau-ching Liou, 劉妙青
• Other Authors: Hui-i Kung
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2009
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/49070368342682194186

碩士 === 國立彰化師範大學 === 英語學系 === 97 === The aim of this quasi-experimental study was to compare the effects of meaningful input-based and meaningful output-based instruction on the learning of English relative clauses by EFL learners in Taiwan. Specifically, it intended to explore whether the two types of grammar instruction had an impact on students’ learning of this form and whether the effects of the two types of instruction on their interpretative and productive performance of this form were different. Two first-year classes with 87 students from a senior high school in central Taiwan participated in this study and each class was assigned to either the meaningful input-based group or the meaningful output-based group. Both of these two groups received 6 periods of instruction. Before and after the instruction, a grammar test with an interpretation section and a production section was administered to the students as the pretest and the posttest to measure their interpretative knowledge and productive ability of the relative clauses. The results indicated both types of instruction had positive impacts on the students’ learning of English relative clauses. In addition, these two types of instruction were equally effective in promoting students’ interpretative abilities of the target form; yet, meaningful output-based instruction was found to have a greater effect on their production of the target structure. These findings suggest that it is helpful for senior high school EFL teachers to adopt either meaningful input-based or meaningful output-based instruction to instruct students in grammatical structures; in particular, they can utilize either of these two types of instruction to facilitate students’ interpretative abilities of specific forms. Additionally, meaningful output-based instruction can be used to assist their students in producing more target-like structures.