IMPLICIT AND EXPLICIT CORRECTIVE FEEDBACK AND THE ACQUISITION OF L2 GRAMMAR
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This article reviews previous studies of the effects of implicit and explicit corrective feedback on SLA, pointing out a number of methodological problems. It then reports on a new study of the effects of these two types of corrective feedback on the acquisition of past tense -ed . In an experimental design (two experimental groups and a control group), low-intermediate learners of second language English completed two communicative tasks during which they received either recasts (implicit feedback) or metalinguistic explanation (explicit feedback) in response to any utterance that contained an error in the target structure. Acquisition was measured by means of an oral imitation test (designed to measure implicit knowledge) and both an untimed grammaticality judgment test and a metalinguistic knowledge test (both designed to measure explicit knowledge). The tests were administered prior to the instruction, 1 day after the instruction, and again 2 weeks later. Statistical comparisons of the learners' performance on the posttests showed a clear advantage for explicit feedback over implicit feedback for both the delayed imitation and grammaticality judgment posttests. Thus, the results indicate that metalinguistic explanation benefited implicit as well as explicit knowledge and point to the importance of including measures of both types of knowledge in experimental studies.
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Repetition followed by metalinguistic feedback led to greater gains in tests designed to measure both implicit and explicit knowledge of the target structure (past tense -ed) than recasts.
“Ellis, Loewen & Erlam (2006), for example, reported that repetition followed by metalinguistic feedback led to greater gains in tests designed to measure both implicit and explicit knowledge of the target structure (past tense -ed) than recasts.”
From Focus on form: A critical review (2016) · cites this paper as Ellis, Loewen & Erlam (2006)
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Cites
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- Authors
- Ellis, R., Loewen, S., & Erlam, R.
- Affiliations
- University of Auckland (NZ)
- Venue
- Studies in Second Language Acquisition
- Publisher
- Cambridge University Press (CUP)
- Published
- 2006-04-21
- Volume
- 28
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 339-368
- ISSN
- 0272-2631 (ISSN-L)
- 1470-1545
- OpenAlex
- W2155071014
- Cited by
- 1,076
- References
- 5
- Citations by year
- 2026: 25 · 2025: 33 · 2024: 38 · 2023: 46 · 2022: 70 · 2021: 121 · 2020: 58 · 2019: 100 · 2018: 66 · 2017: 45 · 2016: 69 · 2015: 67 · 2014: 68 · 2013: 56 · 2012: 64
- FWCI
- 167.46
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Studies in Second Language Acquisition (publishedVersion)
- ResearchSpace (University of Auckland) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Royal Society
- Marsden Fund
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Language and Linguistics › EFL/ESL Teaching and Learning
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Second Language Acquisition and Learning
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Language and Linguistics › Linguistics and Language Analysis
- Keywords
- corrective feedback, implicit feedback, explicit feedback, metalinguistic explanation, recasts, second language grammar acquisition, tacit knowledge, explicit knowledge, grammaticality judgment
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