The Effects of Input Flooding vs. Visual Input Enhancement Techniques on EFL Learners’ Grammar Uptake

The current study assessed the effects of input flooding and visual input enhancement on grammar acquisition of Turkish EFL learners. Fifty-nine Tokat Gaziosmanpasa University students, ranging in age from eighteen to twenty-four, participated in the study. The participants were randomly divided into three cohorts: input flooding, visual input enhancement, and control group. Participants in each group were given reading passages with the same semantic content. However, the reading texts in the input flooding group consisted of increased salience of the targeted structures, while visually enhanced texts drew attention to the target structures through a range of visual input enhancement strategies, including bolding, italicizing, and underlining. Students in the control group only read the texts without any intervention and completed the accompanying exercises. The findings showed that the input flooding and visual input enhancement were statistically beneficial in boosting participants' grammar acquisition. Students in the control group did not significantly improve, in contrast to those in the input flooding and visual input enhancement groups. Furthermore, it was discovered that the visual enhancement group performed better than the input flood group.