Output Hypothesis Tasks and Textual Input Enhancement Techniques: Acquisition of Wh-questions

This study investigates the roles of Output Hypothesis tasks and Input Enhancement techniques in the acquisition of English wh-questions by Iranian EFL learners. Sixty male and female first-grade high school students were selected based on a pre-test and then divided into two experimental groups including an Output Task group and an Enhanced Input group (each with ۱۵ males and ۱۵ females). Both groups received instruction on wh-questions followed by distinct treatments. The Output group completed a picture-cued production task, while the Enhanced Input group received typographically enhanced conversational texts highlighting wh-forms. The results demonstrated significant positive effects for both treatments on the learners' acquisition of wh-questions. However, the Output Task group significantly outperformed the Enhanced Input group on both immediate and delayed post-tests. No significant gender differences were observed in the performance of either group. These findings have pedagogical implications for teachers, material developers, and textbook writers regarding the comparative effectiveness of output production versus enhanced input for grammatical acquisition.

کلیدواژه ها:

Output Hypothesis ، Input Enhancement ، Wh-questions ، Gender ، Second Language Acquisition