Form-focused instruction and the acquisition of tense
by Dutch-speaking learners of English
Experimental studies into the effects of input practice and output practice
What is the difference between I have done a lot of work this morning and I did a
lot of work this morning? Are sentences such as I have seen him yesterday and Who
has invented the telephone? grammatically correct in present-day English? These
are a few examples of the challenges that learners and teachers of English as a
second language face when acquiring and teaching tense in English in instruc-
tional settings (e.g., grammar classes).
The concept of practice as a necessary component for learning a language is a
given for many learners and teachers. However, it has received relatively little
attention from a theory-based perspective. In the past, much of the instructio-
nal practice related to tense in English consisted of mainly output-focused drills,
which required learners to produce grammatically correct forms. Although this
approach has found its way into contemporary language teaching and has
proven useful in its own ways, it has focused almost exclusively on output
practice to the exclusion of other forms of practice. Contemporary materials
designed for explicit instruction on tense in English have seen changes such as
the addition of input-based practice, which requires learners to interact with
input without producing any forms.
This dissertation addresses the concept of practice by investigating the effects of
input practice and output practice on the acquisition of tense by intermediate
Dutch-speaking learners of English. It does so by comparing an input processing
hypothesis with skill acquisition theory in three computer-controlled learning
experiments, involving 216 learners of English.
