A Study On The Application Of Teacher-initiated Preemptive Focus On Form In High School English Class

As the second language acquisition theory is developing rapidly, the Englishclasses in China tend to be meaning-focused. Meanwhile, the practical teaching alsoproved that only meaning-focused without focusing on form is not sufficient.Focusing on form is a substantial part of language teaching. Focus on form pedagogyprovides language learners with the chance to pay attention to linguistic forms, whichis beneficial for their language acquisition. Thus, focus on form in meaning-focusedclass is necessary. Therefore, how to focus on form in meaning-focused class becomesa hot topic in the field of second language acquisition.At the beginning of1990s, studies about how to focus on form inmeaning-focused context appeared. Focus on form (FOF) includes reactive FOF andpreemptive FOF. The former refers to the correction and feedback about the learners’error; the later refers to the initiation of attention to form even though no problematicproduction arises. Preemptive FOF can be divided into student-initiated preemptiveFOF and teacher-initiated preemptive FOF. There are many studies on reactive FOFhome and abroad, but studies on preemptive FOF are relatively rare. Studies onpreemptive FOF proved that teacher-initiated preemptive FOF were more frequentthan student-initiated preemptive FOF. Therefore, teacher-initiated preemptive FOFshould become one important part of the study on FOF.The present study is aimed to study the effectiveness of teacher-initiatedpreemptive FOF in high school English class in China. The researcher compared twoeighth grade classes. There are30students in each class. Teacher-initiated preemptive FOF teaching method was employed in the experimental class (EC) while reactivepreemptive FOF teaching method was employed in the control class (CC). Both ECand CC are meaning-focused classes. The experiment lasted for eight weeks. Theresults show that teacher-initiated FOF is more effective than reactive FOF and it canhelp the students to improve their language accuracy.Therefore, teacher-initiated FOF is worth of studying by both language teachersand researchers. Teacher-initiated FOF should be more effectively used in Englishclasses. The researcher also pointed out the research direction in the future.