The Effect of visual input enhancement on improving learners' use of conjugations in academic writing

Abstract

Writing is one of the four skills that has an important role in second/ foreign language learning. However, learners find it difficult to write in a cohesive way. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of a technique that can be used by teachers which is Visual Input Enhancement. This technique was used to teach conjunctions for the purpose of seeing if there was any improvement in using these conjunctions in academic writing. To fulfil the research purpose, a quasi-experimental study was conducted, with two pre-existing groups that were chosen randomly: the experimental and the control group. The participants of both groups were third year learners at Ferrag Aissa secondary school. The two groups had a pre-test. After that, learners in the experimental group were taught conjunctions using Visual Input Enhancement technique. However, the control group's learners were taught without using this technique. After the treatment period, a post-test was administered. The results showed that participants of the experimental group performed better than those of the control group; thus, they used conjunctions appropriately. This implies that the alternative hypothesis was accepted. Therefore, it can be claimed that visual input enhancement has a significant effect on improving learners' use of conjunctions in academic writing.