A Study On The Effects Of Pre-task And Post-task Focus On Form On The English Grammar Learning In Senior High School

With the promulgation of the National English Curriculum Standards for general high school,the classroom teaching design and thinking mode trigger our more attention,especially the teaching of grammar.How to teach and learn grammar has been a controversial issue in the field of language learning.Focus on form was first proposed by Long in 1991.Since the 1990 s,it has gradually become a hot topic for scholars at home and abroad.Up to now,there have been a lot of theoretical and empirical studies on form-focused instruction at home and abroad to prove the effect of form-focused instruction on second language acquisition.However,there are few comparative studies on the effects of pre-task and post-task focus on form on grammar acquisition of senior high school students.Considering the relative few of existing research on focus on form in task-based language teaching,the present study is an attempt to compare the effects of pre-task and post-task focus on form in non-predicate verbs on EFL learners.The research is mainly focused on the following two research questions:1.Can pre-task and post-task focus on form promote learners’ acquisition of nonpredicate verbs?2.Are there differences in the influence of pre-task and post-task focus on form on learners’ non-predicate verbs acquisition?In this study,161 students were divided into pre-task,post-task focus on form class and controlled class.The teacher first directed the students to focus on the rules and use of non-predicate verbs,and then completed the related communicative task.In the posttask group,students were asked to perform a communicative task related to nonpredicate verbs,and then focus on the grammar rules of non-predicate verbs.The controlled class only completed the test.After the experiment,three classes were given immediate and delayed post-test.In addition,in order to gain a better understanding of the learner’s perception of the two teaching methods,based on the student’s performance in class and on the test results,in each of the two experimental classes,15 students were selected to conduct interviews related to the research questions.Through the data processing and analysis of experiments and interviews,the result indicated that(1)both pre-task and post-task focus on form can promote learners’ acquisition of Grammar;(2)Compared with post-task focus on form,pre-task focus on form can better promote learners’ acquisition of grammar.Therefore,task-based focus on form can be one of the effective approaches to English grammar teaching for senior high school students.In grammar teaching,teachers should effectively combine the two kinds of form focused according to different teaching objectives so that students’ achievements and grammar level can be substantially improved.