The Role of Explicit Contrastive Instruction in Learning Difficult L2 Grammatical Forms: A Cross-Linguistic Approach to Language Awareness. The Reading Matrix

Most of the scholars in the fields of language learning and teaching assert that, when confronted with difficult grammatical forms, learners often conduct an L1- L2 comparison and since this comparison is implicit, it may result in the formation of wrong rules due to an incomplete L2 knowledge. (Selinker, 1992; Robinson, 1995). Here, the purpose was to evaluate one specific approach pertaining to the findings of contrastive analysis referred to as contrastive instruction. It provides a kind of inter-lingual comparison on the basis of contrastive analysis database. Such an approach may facilitate the learning process especially if the structures are difficult with respect to the learners ’ L1. Here, an attempt was made to induce contrastive data in the classroom. Testing the null hypotheses (Ho) demanded an experimental research. The sample consisted of some 450 female high school students of Sabzevar. To do first, a validated proficiency test based on University Entrance Examinations (UEE) was given to some 145 pre-university students. Here, two structures; active / passive voice and conditional sentences provide