| Summary: | This study evaluates the applicability of three consciousness-raising (CR) tasks involving three techniques of CR (identifying, classifying, and hypothesis-building/checking) in teaching the verb 'be' to students at a particular vocational college. The study was conducted with three discrete classes of 27 students from two different courses: construction technology (Group 1), electric technology (Group 2) and cosmetology (Group 3). Each group performed a series of CR tasks with different techniques: CR identification tasks, CR classifying tasks and CR hypothesis-building/checking tasks. Pre-tests and post-tests were carried out, with interviews and questionnaires also administered. The findings indicate that all three techniques of CR helped learners to perform better on the post-tests. The students credited the CR tasks with improving their knowledge of the verb 'be'. The hypothesis-building technique is suggested to be more effective than the two other techniques due to the higher task demand and more complex skill level. (C) 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
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