Effect of Teaching Grammar through Scientific vs. Literary Texts among Iranian EFL Learners

This study was an attempt to investigate whether teaching English grammar through literary versus scientific texts had any significant different effect on intermediate Iranian EFL learners’ intake of English passive structures. 64 female students with an age range of 16 to 24 years studying at an English Language institute in Khorram-Abad were the participants in the study. They were selected based on their performance on a piloted OQPT (2015) and a piloted teacher-made grammar test and assigned to two groups of 32 participants each. Both groups were exposed to the same target structures (English passive voice) in that one group was exposed to target structures through literary texts (fiction texts) while the other group received scientific texts. Immediately after the end of the instruction, a piloted post-test parallel to the pre-test was administered. To ascertain that the pre-test scores are normally distributed a Kolmogorov Smirnov test was run. To compare the performance of the groups on the pre and post-tests independent sample t-tests were conducted. In addition, to compare the performance of each group on pre and post-tests, a series of pair wised t-tests were conducted in pair wised fashion which led to the rejection of the null hypothesis. Results indicated that being exposed to both types of texts were effective in helping the students develop their knowledge of the targeted structures. However, this effect was not the same. That is, the group receiving the scientific texts outshined the group exposed to the literary texts.

Keywords:

Grammar , Passive voice , EFL , Scientific texts , Fiction texts