The Comparative Effect of Preemptive and Reactive Focus on Form on EFL Learners’ Essay Writing

This study was an attempt to investigate the comparative effects of preemptive and reactive focus on form on EFL learners’ essay writing. For this purpose, 60 learners of a total number of 90 intermediate learners studying atPishgamane Academic Language School in Tehran were chosen based on their performance on a piloted PET. The 60learners thus were divided into two groups and each of the groups were taught writing through one of the two forms offocus on form, namely, preemptive and reactive. At the end of the study, the participants in both groups were given a writing posttest. The design of this study was quasi-experimental and posttest only and ANCOVA was used to test the null hypothesis. The results of the study showed significant difference between the effect of the two methods withreactive group outperforming the preemptive group in writing. The finding of this study has implications for EFL teachers, teacher educators, and material developers.