Classroom L2 vocabulary acquisition: investigating the role of pedagogical tasks and form-focused instruction

Framed under a cognitive approach to task-based L2 learning, this study used a pedagogical approach to investigate the effects of three vocabulary lessons (one traditional and two task-based) on acquisition of basic meanings, forms and morphological aspects of Spanish words. Quantitative analysis performed on the data suggests that the type of pedagogical approach had no impact on immediate retrieval (after treatment) of targeted word forms, but it had an impact on long-term retrieval (one week) of targeted forms. In particular, task-based lessons seemed to be more effective than the Presentation, Practice and Production (PPP) lesson. The analysis also suggests that a task-based lesson with an explicit focus-on-forms component was more effective than a task-based lesson that did not incorporate this component in promoting acquisition of word morphological aspects. The results also indicate that the explicit focus on forms component may be more effective when placed at the end of the lesson, when meaning has been acquired. Results are explained in terms of qualitative differences in amounts of focus on form and meaning, type of form-focused instruction provided, and opportunities for on-line targeted output retrieval. The findings of this study provide evidence for the value of a proactive (Doughty and Williams, 1998a) form-focused approach to Task-Based L2 vocabulary learning, especially structure-based production tasks (Ellis, 2003). Overall, they suggest an important role of pedagogical tasks in teaching L2 vocabulary.