The Effects Of Structured Input Activities And Communicative Output Activities On The Acquisition Of English Counterfactual Conditionals

The thesis reports an empirical study on the effects of structured input (SI) activities and communicative output (CO) activities on the acquisition of counterfactual conditionals. It is widely acknowledged that learning needs attention, though different researchers perceive it variously. VanPatten (1996, 2004) proposed Processing Instruction, which intends to alter learners' processing strategies. The defining feature of PI is structured input activities. On the other hand, Swain (1985, 1998) presents the Output Hypothesis, claiming that output has three functions that lead to language acquisition, one of which is noticing function, with CO activities as one typical type. Since both kinds of activities contend their effects on raising the learners' attention to form, a number of studies have thus conducted to compare their effects. Yet the results are non-converging, therefore, further research is called for.The present experiment was implemented among three second-year non-English major classes in Guangzhou City Polytechnic College. Two sets of specially designed activities used as the treatment tools were assigned to the experiment groups, namely the structured input (SI) group, and the communicative output (CO) group. Experimental groups received the same input in instruction but received meaningful practice that was input or output based. The control group received the identical instruction as well, but did a multiple-choice exercise instead. A four-week treatment was carried out in eight phases. Immediate posttest was administered at the end of the last treatment session, followed by a delayed posttest one week later.The data were collected from the three tasks—multiple-choice, sentence completion and proofreading—in the immediate posttest and delayed posttest. The analysis on the task type and the item type revealed two major findings. First, CO group had significantly better gains in all the tasks and all the item types of counterfactual conditionals than SI. This finding supports Swain's Output Hypothesis that output promotes noticing of the form, thus facilitating acquisition. Second, SI also outperformed the control significantly. This finding complies with the results of the main corpus of researches investigating the effects of PI. The interpretation of these findings is that meaningful output, as well as processed input can promote linguistic development and might constitute a direct path to acquisition via the establishment and strengthening of form-meaning connections.Finally, based on the interpretation of the results, a pedagogical implication was put forth for the Chinese teachers. That is, the communicative output activities, such as task-based activities, should be applied to the grammar teaching to raise the learners' attention on the form.