The Effect of Focus on Form Instruction on Intermediate EFL Learners’ Grammar Learning in Task-based Language Teaching

AbstractOne of the current concerns of applied linguistics focuses on incorporating grammar instruction within communicative classroom. The major points in the debates include whether, how and when we should integrate grammar instruction. Some studies have investigated focus on form, defined as the incidental attention that teachers and learners pay to form in the context of meaning – focused instruction. This study investigated three groups of EFL learners who completed the same task and compared the two types of approaches to focus on form (FonF) that is ‘reactive focus on form’ and ‘preemptive focus on form’. The results of the study suggested that reactive FonF in comparison with preemptive FonF furnishes an excellent means for developing the ability to use the grammatical knowledge of the target structure in context. The results further indicated that the majority of the preemptive FFEs were initiated by the teacher rather than students and dealt with vocabulary whereas the linguistic focus of reactive FFEs was largely on grammar