The Impact of Form-focused with Translation Tasks, Form-focused without Translation Tasks, and Meaning-focused Tasks on L2 Vocabulary Learning

Research into translation has recently focused on incorporating findings from other disciplines into the field of translation studies. The present study, as an initial attempt in the context of Iran, set out to compare the effectiveness of form-focused instruction with translation, form-focused instruction without translation, and meaning-focused instruction on vocabulary retention and active recall. In so doing, a total of 79 male Iranian high school students from Quchan participated in this experimental study. For the purpose of this stufy they were divided into three educational classes where they a different treatment, in accordance with the experimental conditions. The results of the study showed that the students in the form-focused instruction with translation performed significantly better than the other students both on a vocabulary retention test, and on an active recall translation test. The findings of the study are discussed in light of attention theory and anvolvement laod hypothesis. Pedagogical implications are also explained.