The Effect of Corrective Feedback on the Acquisition of Implicit and Explicit L2 Knowledge

Abstract

The current study explored the effects of recasts and metalinguistic feedback on the acquisition of implicit and explicit knowledge of English by Persian EFL learners. Three intact EFL classrooms were assigned to three groups: two experimental and one control group. Learners in one experimental group received recasts whenever they made an error during task-based interactions with their interlocutors while learners in the second experimental group received metalinguistic corrective feedback for their errors while performing the same tasks. Learners in the control group also performed the same tasks but received no corrective feedback for their errors. Learners’ achievements as a result of the treatments were investigated via timed and untimed grammaticality judgment tests and also via an elicited oral imitation test. The results indicated that metalinguistic corrective feedback is more effective than recasts in promoting the acquisition of both implicit and explicit L2 knowledge.