Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

• Mohammad Sadegh Ghalibafan ¹
• Shadab Jabbarpoor ²
• Bahram Mowlaie ³

¹ Ph.D candidate in TEFL, Department of English Language, Tehran South Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran.

² English Language department, Islamic Azad University, Garmsar branch, Garmsar, Iran

³ Assistant Professor in TEFL, Department of English Language, Tehran South Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran.

Abstract

This research aims to explore how the cognitive demands of tasks affect the acquisition of English verb tenses and their association with grammatical metacognitive awareness among language learners. The study addresses two key questions: 1) Differential impacts of tasks varying in cognitive load on the acquisition of verb tenses, 2) the predictive role of learners' metacognitive strategies in task conditions. Employing a quasi-experimental design, the study involved 120 first-semester Bachelor of Arts students from Azad University South Branch in Tehran, Iran. Participants were assigned to four groups exposed to different task conditions: reading, reading with textual enhancement, cloze exercises, and reading with writing tasks. Instruments included Grammar Judgment and Editing Tests, Pawlak's (2018) Grammar Learning Metacognitive Strategies Inventory, and the Oxford Placement Test. To reach the findings, the learners’ performances on the Grammar Judgment and Editing Test were compared from pretest to posttest, and One-way ANOVA were utilized for this analysis. Additionally, comparisons among different task conditions in the posttest revealed which tasks resulted in higher learner performance. Results indicated significant improvements in tense structure proficiency associated with higher involvement tasks. This study bridges gaps in understanding optimal task designs for language learning and underscores the importance of metacognitive strategies in the Iranian EFL context.

Keywords

• Cognitive Tasks
• English Verb tenses
• Language Grammar Learning
• Metacognitive Strategies
• Task Involvement Load

Main Subjects

• Any issues dealing with English language teaching and learning on grammar, vocabulary, and the four skills