Attention to form via structural analysis or via highlighting structures in context promotes interlanguage grammar acquisition, but only highlighting in context comes with comprehension of input¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · causal r? · q3
Currency · newest study 1991 · checked against its sources 2026-10-20 (automated, 1 of 1 entry) · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q3 i? Both rule-oriented analysis of structure and highlighting of TL structures in context promoted acquisition of IL grammar. → Catherine Doughty 1991 q3 i? Only the highlighting-in-context treatment was accompanied by comprehension of input. → Catherine Doughty 1991

Evidence¶

Catherine Doughty 1991¶

Catherine Doughty. (1991). Second Language Instruction Does Make a Difference: Evidence from an Empirical Study of SL Relativization. SSLA, 13, 431-469. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0272263100010287

q3 · i? · causal · r?

The study compared a rule-oriented group (Animated Grammar explicit rule statement and sentence manipulation) with a meaning-oriented group (rephrasings and highlighting) within the same comprehension-based reading lessons, against an exposure-only control. The abstract reports both promoted acquisition but "only the latter comes hand-in-hand with comprehension of input".

"show that attention to form, either via detailed analysis of structure or highlighting of target language (TL) structures in context, promotes acquisition of interlanguage (IL) grammar, but that only the latter comes hand-in-hand with comprehension of input"

Discussion¶

Learner Variables¶

• Syntax — outcome: instruction changes it

Related Claims¶

• Explicit L2 grammar instruction leads to larger learning effects than implicit instruction, as reported in the reviewed synthesis literature — a broader claim this one bears on
• Comprehensible input alone is insufficient for acquisition of high levels of grammatical proficiency — related
• Successes of form-focused manipulation of input in adult L2 are illusory with respect to linguistic competence, affecting only performance — reports the opposite
• Explicit grammar teaching outperforms implicit teaching; one review found the advantage only for complex rules, but a meta-analysis found it for simple rules too — a broader claim this one bears on
• Markedness theory, as realized in the Noun Phrase Accessibility Hierarchy, plays an important role in instructed interlanguage development — related
• Second language instruction increases the rate of acquisition of English relativization by ESL learners — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• High-explicitness rule-oriented instruction outperforms implicit instruction or no instruction — related