Task-supported language teaching to enhance young EFL adolescent learners’ comprehension and production of English phrasal verbs in Taiwan

Researchers and language teachers have become increasingly aware of the importance of multi-word items in developing fluency and sounding native-like in English. Nevertheless, understanding and using English phrasal verbs can be challenging and limiting for learners in an EFL environment; offering opportunities to maximise their use of phrasal verbs in language classroom is necessary. The present study investigates how task-supported language teaching enhances young EFL adolescents’ comprehension and production of English phrasal verbs and explores the relationship between test performance and vocabulary strategy use. Fifty 13-year-old students from a school participated in the study. Analyses of the questionnaire survey, pre- and post-test results, and task performance revealed that tasks had a strong and positive effect on enhancing the participants’ comprehension and production of the English phrasal verbs. Although vocabulary strategies were widely employed by the participants, high phrasal verb test scores were found to be related only to memorisation strategies.