Focus on form, learner uptake and subsequent lexical gains in learners' oral production

Abstract

This descriptive study reports findings on the relationship between focus on form, learner uptake and subsequent lexical gains in learners' oral production. The data for the study consisted in 17 45-minute audio-recorded teacher-led conversations, 204 learners' diaries (17 sessions × 12 learners) reporting what they had learned after each conversational class, and data obtained from oral tasks created on the basis of the items reported in learners' diaries after each lesson and administered in three periods of time (post-tasks 1, post-tasks 2 and post-tasks 3). Results of the study show that uptake is influenced by the type of feedback and the complexity of negotiation, thus indicating that explicit feedback and complexity of the interaction seem to be more effective at promoting uptake. However, both explicit and implicit feedback seem to provide learners with opportunities for noticing. Findings related to the relationship between noticing and subsequent lexical gains in learners' oral production indicate that there is a relationship between noticing and immediate lexical gains, although these gains seem to be deteriorated in the delayed oral tasks. The article concludes by claiming that the findings of this exploratory study should be tested in future studies, and argues that classroom research is a setting in which to merge description of interactional features and opportunities for learning with quasi-experimental research.