The Effects Of The Timing Of Form-focused Instruction On The Learning Of English Present Perfect Tense For Junior Middle School Students

The thesis tries to answer the following three questions:(1)Which type of FFI timing(integrated FFI,pre-task FFI,post-task FFI)is more effective in facilitating EFL learners’ learning of English present perfect tense?(2)How do three types of FFI timing affect EFL learners’ learning of English present perfect tense?(3)What is EFL learners’ preference forForm-focused instruction(FFI)research has shifted its focus from whether FFI has an effect to what type of FFI timing is more beneficial.So far,there have been a lot of research on whether FFI has an effect,but not much research has been done on what type of FFI timing is more beneficial.For this reason,the present research compared the effects of three types of FFI timing on EFL learners’ learning of English present perfect tense.The learning of English present perfect tense is notoriously difficult,and the research on this issue has not got consistent findings.Therefore,it is especially important to explore the timing of FFI to help students learn this tense.three types of FFI timing?In the present experimental research,150 students of Junior Two in Xiushui No.3 Middle School in Jiujiang participated.Subjects are from three parallel classes named experimental class one(EC1),experimental class two(EC2)and experimental class three(EC3)respectively.EC1 received integrated FFI,attention to form during meaning-based activities;EC2 received pre-task FFI,attention to form before meaning-based activities;EC3 received post-task FFI,attention to form after meaning-based activities.All subjects finished pretest,immediate posttest and delayed posttest of an error correction test(ECT).And the results were processed by the statistic processing software SPSS.The research results showed that:(1)The three types of FFI timing are all effective in facilitating EFL learners’ learning of English present perfect tense.There is no significant difference among them,and none of them is more effective than another;(2)Most of the subjects from the focus group thought integrated FFI gave them a deeper impression of the present perfect tense,helped them understand it better and remember it for a longer time.Some of them thought pre-task FFI was a good preparation for them to understand the meanings of the sentences in the passage and more convenient for them to remember the structure and uses of the present perfect tense,and it also helped them understand the passage more easily.And one of them thought post-task FFI could let them focus on the sentences with the present perfect tense in the passage;(3)Most of the subjects in the focus group preferred integrated FFI,and only one of them favored post-task FFI.