Meta-analytic research suggests an edge of explicit over implicit instruction for the development of complex L2 grammatical structures, but the jury is still out as to which type of explicit instruction—deductiveorinductive, where rules are respectively provided or elicited—proves more effective. Avoiding this dichotomy, accumulating research shows superior results forguided induction, in which teachers help learners co-construct rules by directing their attention to relevant aspects in the input and asking guiding questions. However, no study has jointly investigated the effects of guided induction on both learning outcomes and processes, or whether guided induction can prove effective outside classroom settings where teacher mediation is not possible. In this study, which targeted the complex Spanishgustarstructures, 70 English-speaking learners of beginning Spanish received either guided induction via a videogame, deductive instruction in a traditional classroom setting, or no instruction. Learning outcomes were measured via one receptive and two controlled production tasks (oral and written) with old and new items. Results revealed that while both instruction groups improved across time, outperforming the control group, the guided induction group achieved higher learning outcomes on all productive posttests (except immediate oral production) and experienced greater retention. Additionally, the think-aloud protocols of the guided induction group revealed high levels of awareness of the L2 structure and a conspicuous activation of recently learned knowledge, which are posited to have contributed to this group’s superior performance. These findings thus illustrate, quantitatively and qualitatively, the potential of guided induction for the development of complex L2 grammar in online learning environments.

Instructed second language acquisition (ISLA) has been referenced in the larger field of the SLA literature for over two and a half decades. Currently, there are several theoretical underpinnings accounting for processes assumed to play a role in ISLA and quite an impressive number of studies have empirically addressed some aspect(s) of ISLA. Recently, a lengthy and relatively cohesive treatise of this substrand of SLA research in relation to both theoretical, empirical, and pedagogical perspectives has been published in two books (cf. Leow, 2015a;Loewen, 2015), and a new model of the L2 learning process in ISLA has been proposed (Leow, 2015a). These publications are timely and important given that the concept of ISLA not only needs to be clearly defined but also situated contextually. To this end, this article (a) revisits current definitions of ISLA in the SLA literature with the aim of identifying specific features of ISLA that underlie such definitions, (b) deconstructs ISLA by probing deeper into what comprises the terms instructed and SLA in ISLA, (c) provides a brief summary of the cognitive processes and variables postulated by the theoretical underpinnings of ISLA and pertinent empirical research, (d) recommends that ISLA be observed from one curricular approach together with its empirical and pedagogical ramifications, and (e) provides some measure of direction future ISLA research may follow.

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract