To-Infinitives and Gerunds: Meaningful Learning as an Alternative to Rote Learninig

Abstract

To-infinitives and gerunds are difficult for English learners due to factors such as language transference, a lack of a generalpattern, the syllabus design,and the use of decontextualized listsof verbs. Therefore, the purpose of this study is toexamine the impact that meaningful learning has on to-infinitives and gerunds as verb complements by comparing the effectiveness of a traditional list of verbs to a general pattern (developed in this study) supported with noticing tasks. The participants are teenagers and adults currently studying in an English school. This quantitative research not only evaluates the learners’performance througha tradition fill in the blank pre and posttest butwith a pre and post freewritingpractice to measure the ability of the participants to transfer the target grammar to more communicativeactivities. Asa result, the evaluation takes into consideration the frequency of use, number of errors,and the variety of complements used in the experiment. The results show that the experimental group’s intervention hada positive impact on the freewritingactivity, especially in the reduction of errors, whereas there were no significant changes in the traditional tests. On the other hand, the control group had significant improvements in the traditional test, but made more mistakes and used fewer complementsand verbs in the free writingtask. Themost significantimplication of the study is to implement a pattern that facilitates the learners’understandingand useof to-infinitives and gerunds as verb complements.