2018 IJRSLL – Volume 7 Issue 1
Author/s:
Biria, Reza
Islamic Azad University, Isfahan (Khorasgan) Branch, Iran (Biria_reza@yahoo.com)
Salamat, Zeynab*
Islamic Azad University, Isfahan (Khorasgan) Branch, Iran (Zeynab_Salamat@yahoo.com)
Abstract:
The present study aimed at quantitatively investigating the effectiveness of in-service workshops for teachers on Iranian intermediate EFL learners’ L2 grammar achievement in a private language institute. To do so, Oxford Placement Test (OPT) was administered to homogenize the participants in terms of their level of proficiency. To collect the data, 40 intermediate learners took part in the study. Then, the participants were divided into one experimental group (i.e. receiving grammar practice by an in-service-trained teacher) and one control group (i.e. receiving no treatment and grammar practice by a non-in-service-trained teacher). The participants in the experimental and the control groups took the pre-test. After that, the experimental group was exposed to five treatment sessions of ‘focus on form’ approach of grammar instruction during five weeks, while the learners in the control group were given traditional grammar instruction. Then, the post-test was administered to both groups of the participants. It was concluded that the experimental group performed significantly better than the control group in the post-test measures of grammar tests highlighting the need for holding in-service workshops for teachers, particularly novice ones, and arm them to with the most recent knowledge of teaching language skills and sub-skills for the purpose of better teaching.
Keywords: in-service workshops; teacher education; grammar achievement; focus on form; teachers’ awareness
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5861/ijrsll.2017.1681
*Corresponding Author