The study is a part of a larger study on the impact of Robot-Assisted Language Learning (RALL) on English grammar acquisition and retention of adolescent English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners. More specifically, the primary aim of the paper at hand was to examine the impact of RALL on adolescent EFL learners’ anxiety levels. In this regard, three intact classes (N=45) in a private language institute in Tehran were evenly divided into two experimental groups of RALL and Game-based Language Learning (GBLL) and one control group. The participants were adolescent male EFL learners between 11 to 15 years old with a mean age of 13. While the teacher, the textbook, and the teaching materials were identical in all groups, a kid-sized humanoid social robot was exclusively used in the RALL group. The data were collected through questionnaires in the final session for each group, and the results of descriptive statistics and ANOVA indicated that lower anxiety rates were observed in the RALL group. Our findings could clearly be proof of the efficiency of socially assistive robots in the instruction of language skills in a more favorable teaching context.

The long-term efficacy of written grammar feedback (WGF) has escaped rigorous empirical investigation, partly due to its strong intuitive appeal. The few studies that have investigated the long-term effect of grammar correction have failed to find any positive long-term effects for WGF (Truscott, 2007). Nevertheless, a number of recent studies have reported a positive effect for WGF. The present study investigated the longterm effect of selective grammar feedback on a reasonably complex feature of the English grammar, attempting to shed some light on the factors that may explain the conflicting results of previous studies. A group of low intermediate EFL learners (N=22) participated in this study. They received WGF on the use of articles and a limited number of various other grammatical categories. The results showed that selective WGF can produce large short-term gains for functionally complex grammatical features, but that it may prove to be detrimental in the long run. The study also found that learners tend to avoid the grammatical feature on which they have received corrective feedback.The theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

The present study was an attempt to investigate the effects of consciousness– raising tasks and input enrichment tasks on learners’ grammar acquisition. To this purpose, two intact groups (number of each was 17) were chosen. One group was considered as the experimental group and the second group was considered as the control group of the study. Some grammatical features were taught through consciousness– raising tasks to the experimental group and the control group was taught the grammatical structures through input enrichment tasks. The results of statistical procedures and Independent pair T-test showed no significant difference between the means of the groups. The findings support the arguments regarding the importance of both tactics in grammar learning but they had different impacts on learners. Consciousness-raising involves an attempt to equip the learners with declarative or explicit knowledge. Input enrichment task equipped learners with procedural or implicit knowledge. The researchers suggested other researchers and teachers applying these approaches in order to promote learners’ grammar and to achieve further findings.

Although there is a myriad of theoretical and pedagogical research studies into L2 grammar, the instruction in this area remains traditional and there have been calls for more usage-based approaches that can fill the gap between theory and practice. Accordingly, this quasi-experimental compared the effects of two pedagogical frameworks, namely Systemic-Theoretical Instruction (STI), derived from Vygotsky‟ s ideas and proposed by Gal‟ perin and discovery learning (DL), derived from Piaget‟ s ideas mainly proposed by Bruner, on learning English tense-aspect system. To this end, 71 Iranian low-intermediate EFL learners, aged 12 to 19, were instructed in three groups through STI, DL (experimental) and traditional method (comparison). They took a pretest, a posttest and a delayed posttest consisting of grammar tests checking their receptive and productive grammar knowledge. Results of one‐ way repeated‐ measures analyses of ANOVA revealed that all groups improved significantly in both the entire test and its subcomponents in the immediate posttest, suggesting that the three kinds of form-focused intervention were efficient in creating immediate progress. However, significant differences were identified among the groups in the delayed posttest accounting for the inadequacy of traditional method of instruction in the long run, and for the superiority of STI over DL. These findings can have significant implications for materials developers and teacher education programs in considering the tenets of more innovative approaches such as STI through systematic representations of target language features by taking advantage of materialized tools and verbalization in teaching.

This study investigated the combined effect of the phase of explicit instruction and feedback timing on task performance and grammar acquisition. Fifty pre-intermediate learners were randomly assigned to 3 major conditions and 5 sub-conditions: pre-task explicit instruction with either immediate or delayed feedback, main-task explicit instruction with either immediate or delayed feedback, and control group. All groups were given a grammaticality judgment test (GJT) and an elicited imitation test (EIT) as the pre- and post-test. During the treatment period, the 4 experimental groups completed three tasks within three weeks. The third task was analyzed for task performance (CAF). The results indicated that among groups, the pre-task/immediate group was the most fluent group and that they had the most attempts to use the target form as much as main task/delayed group. The pre-task/delayed group produced the longest units with highest accuracy and most correct use of the target form.  However, none of the differences were significant except for pre-task (the group that received explicit instruction before task completion) and delayed feedback group which statistically produced longer units and made fewer errors compared to the control group. Additionally, the groups which received explicit instruction within the task completion (main task with either immediate or delayed feedback) statistically made fewer errors than the control group. Regarding performance on GJT and EIT, although pre-task/immediate group gained the highest scores, the differences were not statistically significant. It can be concluded that providing explicit instruction of structure before task with delayed feedback can benefit task performance in terms of complexity and accuracy, and providing explicit instruction within task completion with either immediate or delayed feedback to promote accuracy.

This research aimed to provide insights into L1 acquisition with respect to the formation of Wh-questions by a Persian and an English child. Similarities and differences concerning the variety of patterns produced (both adult-like and non-adult-like) and the frequency and emergence order of each pattern/ Wh-word were taken into consideration. For this purpose, data from an English and a Persian child were analyzed. Based on the findings, it is argued that the Persian grammar licenses a wider range of Wh-questions patterns. Besides, unlike the prevalent in-situ state of the Wh-structure in Persian, the present study indicated it to be mostly Wh-fronted in the data production of the child at the specified developmental stages. Moreover, the English child exhibited more instances of non-adult production which can be justified by the higher complexity of the structure in English, as it demands both dislocation of the Wh-word and inversion. Implications of the study are discussed.

Grammar instruction is a crucial topic of debate in foreign language development. This study aimed at investigating the impact of focus on form (FonF) and focus on forms (FonFs) instruction on grammar acquisition of the subjunctive by Iranian advanced EFL learners. To this end, 40 Iranian advanced EFL learners were selected within the age range of 16-20 from a language school in Karaj, Iran. Initially, the Preliminary English Test was run to ensure that the students were homogenous with respect to their language proficiency. Before any treatment, a pretest was administered to determine the participants’ knowledge of the subjunctive. Afterwards, the researchers taught the subjunctive to one group through FonF instruction and the second group received FonFs instruction. After five weeks of instruction, the researchers administered a posttest to investigate the effectiveness of FonF and FonFs instruction. Then, paired samples statistics, the independent samples t-test, and Mann Whitney U test were run to test the null hypotheses. The findings revealed that although FonF and FonFs instruction have significant positive impacts on grammar acquisition of the subjunctive by Iranian advanced EFL learners, the students who were taught through FonFs instruction significantly outperformed the ones who received FonF instruction.