The document discusses a study on the effects of form-focused instruction (FFI) on ESOL learners' accuracy in written production. There were two types of FFI studied: implicit FFI which incidentally draws attention to forms, and explicit FFI which directly teaches grammar rules. Two teacher participants delivered lessons using either implicit or explicit FFI to experimental groups. Accuracy in writing was measured before, right after, and 3 months post-instruction using controlled and free writing tasks. Questionnaires and interviews with teachers found that most supported explicit FFI and formal instruction to help improve accuracy, though acknowledged learners benefit differently. The study found some short-term benefits to accuracy from FFI but not sustained long-term effects. Overall, the document examines the impact

1. The Effects of Form-Focused Instruction (FFI)
on the ESOL Learners’ Accuracy
of Written Production
Ms. Maria Zaheer
College of Humanities

2. Key Terms
Focus on form (FonF) /Implicit
“is a type of form-focused instruction
(FFI) it “. . . overtly draws students
attention to linguistic elements as they
arise incidentally in lessons whose
overriding focus is on meaning or
communication” (Long, 1991:45).
Focus on Forms/Explicit
“Is evident in the traditional approach
to grammar teaching based on a
structural syllabus” (Ellis, R.,
2008:962).
Form-focused instruction (FFI)
“is any planned or incidental
instructional activity that is intended to
induce language learners to pay
attention to linguistic form” (Ellis,
2001:1).
ESOL
English for Speakers of Other
Languages

3. • ESOL teachers
• ESOL adult learners of mix abilitiesThe Participants
• Skills for Life’ centre, Preston College, UK.
• Quantitative data collection from teachers’
perspective was carried out in various ESOL centres
in UK.
Institutional Setting
• Two teachers with different levels of teaching
experience agreed to participate in the study; both
were native speakers of English and teachers at
Preston College ESOL provision.
ESOL Teachers for the
Experimental Study
Effectiveness of FFI on Written Production
was gauged by:

4. Rationale
• One of the concerns as an EFL teacher was whether the language learners’
written production should be corrected in terms of the non-targeted forms or not.
• The question then arises as to when to correct, how to correct and what to
correct.
• Even by referring to the existing research there are some contradictory findings.
• The noteworthy point is that, considering the results of all these studies, one
cannot see concluding results concerning focus on form (FonF) in particular.
• Regarding the comparative studies in terms of the effectiveness of Explicit and
Implicit FonF the need could easily be felt to investigate the effects of implicit
and explicit FFI and its effects on the written production of ESOL learners at entry
level 2/3 or intermediate level.

5. Investigational Presuppositions
5
Implicit FFI does not affect
the linguistic accuracy of
the ESOL learners’ written
production in comparison
with explicit FFI.
To what extent does Form-
focused instruction (FFI)
improve the written
production of ESOL
learners at entry level 2/3 or
intermediate level?
How do the ESOL teachers
perceive the impact of
implicit vs explicit
instruction for the ESOL
learners?

6. Groups Treatment Tasks types / tools
Time triangulation
3 Test stages
Experimental
group 1
Implicit FFI T 1: Constrained constructed
responses / gap fill task
T 2: Free constructed
response/ free writing
1.Pre-test
2.Post-test (soon after
treatment session)
3. Delayed Post- test (after
a period of 3 months)Experimental
group 2
Explicit FFI
Comparative study design

7. No. Questions
Strongly
agree
(1)
Agree
(2)
Not sure
(3)
Disagree
(4)
Strongly
disagree
(5)
1
Formal instruction helps learners to produce
written work in correct grammatical language.
13% 29% 18% 33% 7%
2
In case of implicit or delayed error correction
a student keeps making the same error.
31% 36% 9% 16% 9%
3
Students can improve their writing accuracy
through frequent practice of grammatical
structures.
13% 33% 11% 42% 0%
4
Some errors are susceptible to the teacher’s
intervention, while others just resolve
themselves over time and through exposure
and practice
33% 40% 13% 13% 0%
5
A typical measure of accuracy is
Percentage of error-free clauses.
7% 44% 27% 22% 0%
6
Students learn grammar more successfully if
it is presented within a Complete text in an
activity.
44% 20% 22% 13% 0%
7
Form-focused correction helps students to
improve their written Proficiency
13% 42% 31% 13% 0%
8
Explicit discussion of grammar rules is helpful
for students to improve their written
proficiency.
16% 44% 20% 13% 7%
Quantitative Data from Questionnaires for
Research Question one According to the Sections

8. Section one: Questions 1, 6, and 8 were formulated to obtain how the
teachers’ perception about explicit instruction helps the students to
improve their written proficiency. The findings of these questions are
illustrated below:
No. Questions
Strongly
agree
(1)
Agree
(2)
Not sure
(3)
Disagree
(4)
Strongly
disagree
(5)
1
Formal instruction helps
learners to produce written work
in correct grammatical
language.
13% 29% 18% 33% 7%
6
Students learn grammar more
successfully if it is presented
within a Complete text in an
activity.
44% 20% 22% 13% 0%
8
Explicit discussion of grammar
rules is helpful for students to
improve their written
proficiency.
16% 44% 20% 13% 7%

9. Section one: Questions 2 and 4 aimed to bring forth teachers’
attitudes or beliefs on implicit correction in their language classrooms.
This table clearly illustrates the effects of using implicit FFI:
No. Questions
Strongly
agree
(1)
Agree
(2)
Not sure
(3)
Disagree
(4)
Strongl
y
disagre
e
(5)
2
In case of implicit or delayed error
correction a student keeps making the
same error.
31% 36% 9% 16% 9%
4
Some errors are susceptible to the
teacher’s intervention, while others just
resolve themselves over time and
through exposure and practice
33% 40% 13% 13% 0%

10. Question 5 was how teachers measure accuracy in order to give corrective
feedback to the learners. This question was devised to answer research question
two which sought to find out which teaching method of FFI is more effective for
students. Result of question 5 responses as a percentage:
7%
44%
27%
22%
0%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
45%
50%
1 2 3 4 5
Strongly agree Agree Not sure Disagree Strongly disagre

11. Section two: This section comprised 7 questions on how teachers
and learners dealt with classroom difficulties
11%
7%
13% 13%
4%
7%
4%
51%
58%
33% 33%
24%
31%
53%
11%
27%
24% 24%
11%
20%
24%
27%
9%
29% 29%
51%
29%
18%
0% 0% 0% 0%
9%
13%
0%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
My students find itdifficultto
transfertheir grammatical
knowledge into
communicativelanguageuse.
My students are motivated by
problem-solvingtechniques
forlearninggrammar.
My students prefer to find
matches between meaning and
structure forthemselves.
My students find authentic
texts difficultbecause of the
wide varietyof structures
whichappear.
My students cannot findform-
functionmatches inauthentic
texts without explicitdirection
fromteachers.
My students find itdifficultto
correcterrors ofgrammar
within a written context.
My students find itdifficultto
improvethe accuracyof their
grammaticallanguagewithout
focusonforms.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Stronglyagree Agree Notsure Disagree Stronglydisagree
The findings of this section revealed interesting results on grammar instruction in the ESOL
sector. Although teachers have a communicative approach to teaching grammar 51% agreed
that their students find it difficult to transfer their grammar knowledge into communicative
language use whereas 53% agreed that FonF is important to help students improve accuracy.

12. Illustrates means of Tool
1 and 2; group 1and 2 at
all three stages of test

13. Section two: At the end of the questionnaire a space for further comments was given
in order to collect qualitative data about the approach to teaching ESOL learners and
any problems which occur in the classroom regarding aspects of FonF. Only 16
teachers out of 45 gave their comments.
The qualitative data were coded by nodes respectively according to responses:
0% 2% 4% 6% 8% 10% 12% 14% 16% 18%
Form-similarities
Form+Function
FonFS
FonF
Percentage coverage

14. All students are different and therefore some will
find FonF more effective than FonFs and vice
versa. Personally, I agree that FonFs is more
effective (see Ellis), but that doesn’t mean I
wouldn’t use both, and other, approaches in the
classroom to teach grammar.
Some qualitative responses from the questionnaire categorised
according to the research questions of this study
Students’ perceptions are important. If they
think focus on form is the only way to learn a
language then they will not realise they can
learn just as well from implicit teaching. Most
students will say they want ‘more grammar’
because they don’t recognise they are learning
grammar implicitly. A good ESOL teacher
should do a mixture of both I think.

15. The Qualitative Data from the Face to Face Interviews to Triangulate the
Questionnaire Findings: The Data presented below demonstrates the
responses of 3 ESOL teachers verbatim transcriptions
Participants Questions and responses
ESOL teacher 1
(an ESOL teacher
for 20 years)
Q: Can formal instruction help learners to produce written work in correct grammatical
language?
A: I would probably help some learners different thing help different learners, learners
respond to different things in life different points of language learning career so to speak I
think I does help some learners some of the time.
ESOL teacher 3
(an ESOL teacher for
over two years)
Q: Can Form-focused correction help students to improve their written proficiency?
A: Yes, I suppose that the way I would deal with it in a group if any particular point is
carrying general problems within the group because it is account..... Then I would probably
do a general group sort of lecture on that particular point.
ESOL teacher 2
(an ESOL teacher
for three years)
Q: Is a typical measure of accuracy in grammar a percentage of error-free clauses?
A: Yeah in written work, what we're looking for in entry one’s writing. I want accuracy in
simple sentences I only correct errors within the standards of the class I’m teaching.

16. Conclusion
 The ESOL teachers favoured and practice FFI and supported the
importance of giving explicit instruction.
 However, the experimental study did benefit from FFI and it the
effects were not sustained over a period of time. Nicholos et. al.
(2001) pointed out that, “those findings to date for negative
feedback research are still somewhat inconclusive and difficult to
interpret” (cited in Mitchell and Myles 2004:183).
Qualitative data from a respondent evaluates (FFI).
 “I think we need to remember that people attend to different things
in second languages and also feel different things are useful in their
learning, so it’s sometimes difficult to generalise. There’s also the
point that where L1 and L2 share grammatical or form-function
similarities, then it may be easier to correct errors etc”.

17. Thank You for Listening!
Any Questions?