Exploring the effects of input-based treatment and test on the development of learners’ pragmatic proficiency

The present study evaluates the relative effectiveness of three types of input-based instruction: comprehension-based instruction (proactive explicit information + structured input task), structured input instruction (structured input task), and consciousness-raising instruction (consciousness-raising task). The present study also investigates how the effectiveness of these different types of input-based instruction varies according to the method of assessment of learners’ pragmatic proficiency. Treatment group performance was compared to that of a control group on pre-, post-, and follow-up tests, which took the form of a planned discourse completion test, a planned role-play test, an unplanned listening judgment test, and a planned acceptability judgment test. The results of the data analysis indicate that the three treatment groups performed significantly better than the control group, but that the comprehension-based instruction group did not maintain the positive effects of the treatment between the post-test and follow-up test in the listening test. The results of the data analysis also reveal a significant main effect for Test and the three types of input-based instruction varies according to the method of testing.