Mohammad Darijani - Ph.D. Candidate in ELT, English Department, Faculty of Humanities, Islamic Azad University, Kerman Branch, Kerman, Iran
Malihe Esmaeili - Imam Reza International University, Mashhad, Iran

The goal of this study, as a remedy, was to explore the effects of overt and covert grammar instruction on Iranian EFL learners’ writing skills so as to know if any of the two approaches could affect the writing skills that students should normally shape as English language learners. The population of the study was composed of ۳۸ EFL learners. Using Oxford Quick Placement Test, ۱۱ subjects were eliminated and the other ۲۷ ones, aged ۱۹ to ۲۴, established the sample of the study. Later they were randomly assigned into three groups, two experimental groups (EG) and one control group (CG) each made up of ۹ participants. To collect the data of the study, two major instruments were used. Oxford Quick Placement Test and test of writing. According to the achievements of the present study, it was observed that after a period of overt and covert grammar instruction and after making comparison between the posttest scores of the so called experimental groups, the learners’ writing skills progressed considerably in overt group. Thus the achievements of the study supported the assumption that overt teaching of grammatical rules can fall useful for writing skills’ improvement and it surely decreases the anxiety that learners normally feel in their language classes when they are asked to write in the second language.

Writing skill, Overt approach, Covert approach, grammar instruction