Different Textual Enhancement Formats and the Intake of English Past Simple Tense

Abstract

The present study investigated the differential effect of different textual enhancement (TE) formats on the intake of English past simple tense. There were 156 male pre-intermediate learners of English. A reading comprehension text was distributed among four experimental and one control group. The target structure was enhanced differently for four experimental groups but for the control group there was no enhancement. The last experimental format was created by the present researchers to investigate its effect on the noticing of the target form. ANOVA analysis and Scheffe post hoc test were applied to analyze the data. Final results divulged that underline and bold TE formats were more effective in bringing about the noticing and intake of the target structure. However, choice TE format did not prove to be effective. The findings indicated that the different types of TE had differential effect on the noticing and intake of the English past simple tense.