The Effects and Challenges of Incorporating Processing Instruction into Grammar Teaching in the Chinese Context

Abstract

Processing Instruction is proposed by VanPatten (1996, 2002a) as a method of second language grammar instruction. Processing Instruction aims to direct learners’ attention to the communicative value of grammar features in second language input. Previous studies have indicated that Processing Instruction plays a facilitative role when short-term effects on comprehension are considered. The findings regarding longer-term effects on comprehension and the effects on production have been rather mixed.

The present PhD thesis explores the possibility of incorporating Processing Instruction in the Chinese English as a foreign language (EFL) classroom, and its contribution to grammar learning in that context. The participants in this project were Chinese learners from a tertiary education. The grammar features examined were English passive voice and relative clause structures.

The project included two phases. The first phase was an exploratory study which established that (a) these grammar features were indeed challenging for these learners for reasons consistent with Processing Instruction theory and (b) Processing Instruction had not yet been tried with these EFL learners. In the second phase, two treatment studies were conducted (total n = 88) to examine to what extent Processing Instruction-informed lesson facilitates the learning of English passive voice and relative clause structures. A pretest – treatment – posttest design was used. The effects of Processing Instruction-informed lessons were investigated in comparison with reading-based lessons where learners were merely exposed to the target grammar features.

The results from the interpretation and production tasks in the treatment studies did not show evidence that the Processing Instruction-informed lessons were more effective than the comparison treatment. In fact, any learning gains observed from both conditions were marginal. Possible explanations for these findings were proposed.