The use of input‐based tasks to initiate adult learners to the expression of temporality in French literacy and language instruction

Abstract Input‐based tasks have shown promising outcomes for teaching concrete notions (i.e., vocabulary items and number marking) to beginner students in varied educational contexts, including with second language (L2) adults with little to no schooling experience. However, neither the teaching of more abstract notions nor the learning outcomes generated by such an intervention with this specific population of learners has yet been documented. We thus conducted a study targeting the expression of temporality in an intact L2 French language and literacy classroom ( N = 18), using input‐based tasks that required participants to process three‐frame picture stories representing the same action unfolding in time. The students who volunteered ( n = 6) were tested before and after the intervention on a receptive and a productive task. Results show not only that participants performed better after the intervention on both measures but also that their production of temporality moved from a picture‐by‐picture description to a more coherent description expressed through different means (lexical, morphological, etc.). The results of this study can benefit both researchers and practitioners focused on adult language and literacy learners, for whom evidence‐based research is scarce, but also to L2 researchers, who are encouraged to expand research beyond the traditional Western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic (WEIRD) populations.