An Empirical Study Of Applying The Focus On Form Approach To Grammar Teaching In Senior High Schools

For a long time, the Grammar-translation approach has played an important part in grammar teaching in senior high schools. This approach is attractive in that it directly addresses the grammatical rules and thus saves time. However, it’s not without drawbacks; it always reduces students’participation and interaction and the dull atmosphere will often have a negative effect on students’interest. Since1990s, the Focus on Form approach has received more and more attention; and much attention has been paid to its advantages and disadvantages in actual teaching. The present study, following this track, thus aims to explore the effect of Focus on Form in grammar teaching in senior high schools.Ninety students from two intact classes in Senior Grade1were randomly assigned to two test groups:an experimental group and a control group, and participated in the three-week experiment. The current study, focusing on the subjunctive mood, aims to explore the following three research questions:a. Is Focus on Form more effective than the Grammar-translation approach in improving students’comprehension?b. Is Focus on Form more effective than the Grammar-translation approach in improving students’production? c. Is Focus on Form more effective than the Grammar-translation approach in improving students’ learning attitude?Through data collection and analysis, the study finds that answers for all the above research questions are positive. For the first one, the results show that students in both EC and CC made great progress in comprehension of the subjunctive mood, and that though the progress in EC is greater, the difference is not significant. For the second one, students in EC made great progress and the difference is significant. For the last one, the results are similar to that of the second research question. Based on this, the study concludes that the Focus on Form approach is effective in grammar teaching and thus is an approach worthy of being employed in grammar teaching in senior high schools.