The Effect of Incidental Focus on Form and Scaffolding on SL Learners' Accuracy

Abstract

One of the central issues in SLA which has recently attracted the attention of SLA researchers is the type of feedback and their effectiveness on improving EFL learners' accuracy. There have been lots of studies done on the topic to date investigating the effectiveness of different types of feedback on EFL learners' language development. However, there has rarely been a study investigating the two types of implicit focus on form in the form of repetition and clarification request in the form of negotiated feedback on L2 learners' accuracy. The main purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of these two these two types on 36 elementary male learners studying English at Iran National Language Institution, Miyandoab Branch. These participants received one term of instruction (17 sessions). One group received scaffolding negotiated feedback while the other group received implicit focus on form on their erroneous utterances. A post-test and a delayed post-test were administered to collect data. T-test was used to analyse the data. The findings of the study proved no significant difference between two types of feedback and L2 learners' accuracy. However, in delayed post-test, the participants receiving negotiated scaffolding treatment outperformed the implicit group. This study carries significant implications for SLA researchers as well as syllabus designers.