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The main research purpose of this study is to investigate effects FonF intervention has on learning of unfamiliar word forms and reading comprehension.
The FonF intervention is provided in the form of online discussion on reading materials, with the purpose of eliciting learners’ FFEs. Based on previous studies about effects of FonF intervention on learning of forms, the research questions of the current study are framed as follows:
Research Question 1: Do FFEs in online discussion enhance learners’ learning of the forms of the target words in the assigned reading texts?
Research Question 2: Do FFEs in online discussion enhance learners’ retention of the forms of the target words in the assigned reading texts?
Research Question 3: Do FFEs in online discussion influence learners’ reading in terms of three types of comprehension of the assigned reading texts?
The three research questions are elaborated as follows.
2.5.1 Research Question 1: Do FFEs in online discussion enhance learners’ learning of the forms of the target words in the assigned reading texts?
Learning of word forms in FonF intervention might be beneficial and effective, thus deserving more attention. As vocabulary serves as meaning units of a language, failure to know a word is very likely to cause communicative breakdown (Laufer, 2006), which can be a good trigger for shifting learners’ attention to form in FonF intervention (Long & Robinson, 1998). This study therefore hopes to examine the effects learners’ FFEs in online discussion make on their learning of the word forms.
2.5.2 Research Question 2: Do FFEs in online discussion enhance learners’ retention of the forms of the target words in the assigned reading texts?
Retention of linguistic items over a longer period of time serves as one of the indices of learning, but this issue needs further exploration in FonF research. Some FonF studies have investigated retention of words after FonF intervention (e.g. de la Fuente, 2002; Dobinson, 2001; Shintani, 2013). Dobinson, with his study results
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showing that the shifting of learners’ attention to words facilitates vocabulary learning, found that the retention rates of vocabulary were high. Some of the retained words in the delayed tests were not even immediately recalled after intervention, which implied that learning word forms requires a rather long period of time. De la Fuente, on the other hand, suggested that output from learners in meaning negotiations facilitates retention of words, while negotiations without output from learners failed to do so.
However, Shintani found word retention through the treatment with input-based tasks but without output. The needs to explore word retention through FonF instruction was stressed by these studies, which this current research follows and hopes to provide an insight into the issue of word retention in FonF intervention under the condition of longer period of time for the treatment to make effects.
2.5.3 Research Question 3: Do FFEs in online discussion influence learners’ reading in terms of three types of comprehension of the assigned reading texts?
Few FonF studies have measured participants’ comprehension of input, but it actually plays an essential role in thorough understanding of learning effects brought by FonF intervention. It has been suggested that comprehension should be viewed as one dependent variable in FonF studies so that “balanced development” in input comprehension and learning of forms could be pursued (Han et al., 2008, p.603).
However, the current situations are that although some FonF studies have applied listening comprehension tasks as treatments (e.g. de la Fuente, 2002; Ellis, Tanaka, &
Yamazaki, 1994; Shintani, 2012, 2013), almost none of them involve measuring learners’ comprehension of input in their study design. The present study thus attempts to fill this research gap by including participants’ comprehension of input as a dependent variable.
Another important reason why this present study views measuring learners’
comprehension of input as necessary is related to the vital role played by vocabulary
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in text comprehension. As vocabulary has long been regarded as essential in learners’
reading comprehension (Hirsh & Nation, 1992; Hu & Nation, 2000; Laufer, 1989;
Nation, 2001; Qian, 1999; Schmitt, Jiang, & Grabe, 2011), whether learners’ focus on word forms would be associated with their text comprehension is thus worth investigation. The last research question attempts to fill the research gap in relationship between FonF intervention and learners’ comprehension of input, and to confirm the essential role vocabulary plays in reading comprehension from the perspective of FonF.
This research question will be dealt with through assessing different comprehension types, including global comprehension, local comprehension and inference. It is worth investigating whether the effects brought by FFEs will vary among different comprehension types.
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Chapter Three Methodology
This research aims to investigate the effects that online discussion through SNSs as a FonF intervention makes on learning word forms and text comprehension. The study design will be elaborated in detail in this chapter, which is divided into five subsections. The first subsection gives background information about the participants;
the second specifies the instruments were used in the study. Materials in the FonF intervention are introduced in the third subsection. The subsection four details the process of the study. Last but not least, how study data were analyzed is specified in subsection five.