Effects Of Isolated And Integrated Form-Focused Instruction On English Vocabulary Learning In Junior High Schools

Form-focused instruction(FFI)is a key focus area in the field of second language teaching.It points out that form-focused instruction in meaning-centered language teaching can effectively promote learners’ second-language learning effect.A number of scholars have conducted extensive research on it and distinguished it from focus on forms.Currently,researchers agree that focus on form is more conducive to promoting learners’ second language learning.Isolated and integrated form-focused instruction are two branches of focus on form,which aim to explore when focusing on form can better attract learners’ attention.In addition,the important role of vocabulary in the English learning of junior high school students is self-evident,but in real English classrooms,teachers teach vocabulary in a single way.In this case,students do not learn vocabulary effectively.In order to further investigate the effects of isolated FFI and integrated FFI on junior high school students’ English vocabulary learning,this study compares the effects of the two teaching methods students’ vocabulary learning and retention,and explores students’ attitudes about the two methods in the form of questionnaires and interview.As mentioned above,this thesis aims to explore isolated FFI and integrated FFI,focusing on the effects of two teaching methods on students’ vocabulary learning and tries to discover students’ attitudes towards these two kinds of FFI.Based on the above objectives,this study contains the following two research questions:(1)Which Form-focused Instruction can better facilitate students’ vocabulary learning and retention in junior high schools,isolated FFI or integrated FFI?(2)What are the students’ attitudes and perceptions towards isolated FFI and integrated FFI?According to Long’ s Interaction Hypothesis and Schmidt’ s Attention Hypothesis,this study selects79 students from two classes in the second year of a junior high school in Xinjiang as the research subjects to study the effects of these two types of FFI on students’ vocabulary learning and retention.One is Isolated Class(39 people),in which isolated FFI is used to instruct the new words.The other is Integrated Class(40people)and in this class,integrated FFI is applied.Before conducting the teaching experiment,the two classes complete a pre-test to ensure that the two classes are at the same level and pick out the target word.During the experiment,the same teacher instructs the two classes in different teaching methods.After finishing the last unit,the teacher asks all students to take an immediate post-test at the same time to test the instant effect of the method.Four weeks later,the two classes participate in a delayed post-test to see the time-lapse effect of the approach.After the delayed post-test,the teacher performs a questionnaire survey and one interview in Isolated Class and Integrated Class to see whether the two classes have different attitudes towards these two teaching methods.Finally,the data are collected and analyzed through SPSS24.0.In conformity with the results of the independent samples T-test and descriptive statistical analysis,the following conclusions are obtained:(1)According to the results of the immediate post-test and the delayed post-test,the grades of the two classes are significant improved compared with the pre-test,indicating that the two FFI are conducive to the vocabulary learning of junior high school students,but it can also be seen that the grades of Isolated Class are higher than Integrated Class as a whole,so the effect of isolated FFI is more obvious than integrated FFI.That is to say,isolated FFI promotes students’ more learning and retention of vocabulary knowledge.Even though the grades of students in Isolated Class are superior to Integrated Class in the two post-tests,this do not mean that integrated FFI is discounted value.By analyzing the trends of the two classes in the line and bar charts,it can be seen that students’ scores in Isolated Class decrease more quickly than those in Integrated Class over time,which implies that the long-term retention of integrated FFI is better than that of isolated FFI.(2)From the results of the questionnaire,it can be found that there is no significant difference in the attitude of the two classes for the vocabulary teaching methods used in the class,and they both support their respective teaching methods.During the interview,most of the students in Isolated Class agree with isolated FFI,while some of the students in Integrated Class think that integrated FFI is not effective in promoting vocabulary learning.The results of the study show that isolated FFI is better than integrated FFI in improving students’ vocabulary levels overall,and students are positive about this approach.But integrated FFI is more beneficial for students’ long-term vocabulary retention.Therefore,in actual vocabulary classrooms,teachers should choose one of them carefully,and if necessary,combine the two.We hope that this study will provide some valuable references for English teachers in junior high school and vocabulary-related researchers.