The role of a consciousness-raising task in a focused-task sequence

Abstract

This paper analyzes the role of explicit information on the learning of subject and object wh-questions in a sequence of tasks. Two sequences of focused tasks (ELLIS, 2003) were designed to incorporate flooded and enhanced subject and object wh-questions in the input. The activities were the same, except for a consciousness-raising task (C-RT) in one of the sequences, which was devised to promote learners’ explicit knowledge of the target structures. Two groups of EFL high school students participated in the study. The data were collected through a pre- and a post-test that required the production and the recognition of the structures. The groups’ performance was compared, and the results showed that the focused-task sequence containing the C-RT was not promising, possibly due to learners’ internal factors which may play down the role of explicit knowledge in the foreign language learning process.