The Impact of Immediate and Delayed Written Pushed Output Produced by Pre-intermediate EFL Learners in Iran on Their Acquisition of English Verb Tenses

Abstract

The present study aimed at investigating the impact of immediate and delayed written Pushed Output on the acquisition of English verb tenses. To this end, 32 freshmen majoring in English translation were selected as the participants of the study. After they were randomly assigned to three groups, i.e. two experimental groups Immediate Written Pushed Output (IWPO) group and Delayed Written Pushed Output (DWPO) group and a control group (CG), a pre-test was administered. Then for eight sessions all three groups received explicit instructions on English verb tenses. Subsequently, the experimental group was assigned to perform some output tasks whereas the control group was given conventional multiple choice tests instead. The EG1 (DWPO) had a 10-minute planning time before performing the tasks, while EG2 (IWPO) had to perform the tasks as soon as they received them. Every week the participants in all three groups received feedback on their performances. Following the treatment sessions, a post- test was run. Finally, the comparison of the three groups’ performances on the posttest as well as the comparison of each group’s performance on the pretest and posttest supported the facilitative effects of both delayed and immediate written pushed output on the acquisition of English verb tenses.