This study examines the relation of language arts instruction to students’ letter-word reading skill growth from the beginning of 1st grade to the end of 2nd grade using cross-classified random effects models. Amounts of teacher-managed, code-focused instruction in 1st and 2nd grade each uniquely predicted students’ letter-word reading skill growth; plus, there were child-by-instruction interac...

With the aim of more emphasis on pragmatics and its inclusion in EFL classrooms, this study attempted to investigate the effectiveness of obtrusive and unobtrusive focus on form instructions on learners’ pragmatic performance of criticizing in English. 54 Iranian learners, all at intermediate level, participated in this study, and they were divided into three groups: 19 participants receiving o...

This study investigated the relative effects of deductive and inductive form-focused instruction (FFI) on the acquisition of 4 non-generic definite article uses(cultural, situational, structural, and textual) as assessed by explicit and implicit outcome measures. The tests utilized to assess EFL learners' acquisition of definite article uses were timed and untimed grammaticality judgment tests....

This paper presents an experiment concerning the relative effectiveness of computer assisted comprehension practice and production practice in the acquisition of a second language. Two computer programs were developed: (a) an input-focused program providing students with explicit grammatical instruction and comprehension exercises and (b) an output-focused program providing the same grammatical...

Students have trouble using and interpreting topographic maps. Experienced map-users identify patterns of contour lines representing topographic structures and visualize that information in 3D. Novices struggle with both recognizing 2D patterns and visualizing 3D structures from contour lines. In this study, the Pattern Identification group received instruction focused on identifying contour pa...

This study investigated specific patterns of a reactive approach to form-focused instruction: namely, corrective feedback and its relationship to error types and immediate learner repair. The database is drawn from transcripts of audio recordings made in four French immersion classrooms at the elementary level, totaling 18.3 hours and including 921 error sequences. The 921 learner errors were c...

This study investigated the effects of prompts as corrective feedback strategy on teaching /θ/ and /ð/ sounds to Iranian EFL learners. To achieve this objective, after 30 students studying English at a language institute took a placement test, the intermediate-level students were selected based on their scores on this test. They were randomly assigned to one experimental group and one control g...

There is growing recognition of the need to end debate regarding reading instruction in favor an approach that provides a solid foundation phonics and other underlying language skills become expert readers. We advance this agenda by providing evidence specific effects focused primarily on written code or developing knowledge. In grade 1 program evaluation study, inclusive comprehensive with gre...