The Effect of Output Tasks on the Acquisition of English Verbal Morphemes

Abstract

This paper aims to explore the facilitative effect of an output task on learning verbal morphemes by Iranian EFL learners. The main research question addressed whether engaging learners in output tasks can fill the gap between comprehension and production of verbal morphemes (present progressive–ing and simple past–ed) and promote learning of the target linguistic forms. Two groups of learners from young adult classes (all male students within the age range of 13-15) participated in the current study: an output group consisting of 20 learners and a control group consisting of 18 learners. All of them were administered a pretest and posttest. The learners in the output group worked on a text reconstruction task which employed an audio-text cartoon strip. The major findings were (a) the comparison of pre-test scores showed a significant difference between comprehension and production of target forms by the learners, (b) after receiving treatment, the output group outperformed the control group, (c) finally, the control group failed to show comparable improvement in their production although they had measurable gains in comprehending the target linguistic form. Considering the above findings, further support was found for the effect of output tasks on L2 learning. The findings contribute to the research that has examined type of task and level of processing in promoting L2 learning.