Abstract:
There is now widespread acceptance of the importance of
formulaic expressions in language learning. This
experimental component was based on the assumption that
second language learning is facilitated by acquisition of
chunks of language and therefore, when chunks are brought
into the attention of the learner, efficiency of language
learning increases. The study investigated the effectiveness
of the activities for noticing the use of prepositions in
chunks. Eighty students studying English as a second
language participated in this study. These students were
randomly divided into experimehtal and control groups of 40
subjects each. The experimental group received two hours of
specially designed activities per week for a period of five
weeks (10 hours), while the control group received general
instruction. Both groups were tested on the cloze test for
prepositions at the end of five-week period. Given that marks
were normally distributed, an independent sample t-test was
used to see the significance of the mean value difference of
the two groups. Two variance tests were conducted to see if
the variance of the control group is equal to that of the
experimental group. The variances were equal and therefore,
the p value of the independent sample test which showed
0.000 indicates that the null hypothesis could be rejected at
0.05. The results are discussed on the basis of how
meaningful the actual mean difference was.
