The Effect of Input Enhancement and Concordance-based Activities on Iranian EFL Learners' Acquisition and Retention of Phrasal Verbs

Abstract

ABSTRACT Phrasal verbs are commonly used in spoken English but they are difficult for learners to acquire. This is mainly because such verbs, in their combinations with various prepositional/adverbial particles, often exhibit figurative senses not readily clear to the learner. Due to the problems experienced by Iranian EFL learners in acquiring phrasal verbs, this study was designed to investigate the effectiveness of reading with input enhancement and concordance-based materials on 60 Iranian EFL learners' acquisition and retention of phrasal verbs. To this end, three intact classes were assigned to: 1) reading with input enhancement group, 2) concordance-based group, and 3) a control group. These classes had equal numbers of participants and prior to the treatment, participants were asked to complete a pre-test to ascertain their unfamiliarity with the target phrasal verbs. After a ten- session treatment period, the production and retention of the target phrasal verbs were tested through a post-test and a delayed posttest. The results of the ANOVA revealed the superiority of the reading with input enhancement group over concordance-based group in both acquisition and retention of phrasal verbs. In addition, through Pearson Correlation it was found that the knowledge of phrasal verbs has a positive relationship with learners' cloze reading comprehension. The study concluded with some pedagogical implications.