Differential effects of explicit form-focused instruction on morphosyntactic development

Abstract

This study explores whether and to what degree explicit form-focused instruction (FFI) facilitates the use of morphosyntactic forms in second language oral production and also whether it has differential effects on morphosyntactic forms with different linguistic variables. Twenty-seven university-level Chinese EFL participants were randomly assigned to a control group and an experimental group. While the control group watched a television episode in English, the experimental group completed two form-focused activities (rule review and self-correction) designed to draw their attention to noun plural, past tense, and third-person singular in English in their oral production. All participants completed oral production pre-and post-test measures, the results of which showed that explicit FFI promoted the use of the target forms and that the facilitative effects were dependent on the complexity and regularity of the morphosyntactic forms. Regular (as opposed to irregular) and more complex morphosyntactic forms appeared to benefit more significantly from explicit FFI.

Metalinguistic Knowledge of Salient vs. Unsalient Features: Evidence From the Arabic Construct State

“…This finding confirms a conclusion by N. Ellis () that salience is a key element that triggers selective attention in L2 learning. In addition, it supports a broader view that learners demonstrate varied manifestations of metalinguistic knowledge of structures that vary in terms of their inherent linguistic characteristics (Xu & Lyster, ).…”

“…Although it has been broadly held that FFI helps students develop metalinguistic knowledge of grammar rules (Norris & Ortega, ; Spada, ; Spada & Tomita, ), studies have reported mixed effects on grammatical forms with variable inherent linguistic characteristics. Xu and Lyster () studied the differential effects of FFI on the development of metalinguistic knowledge of three morphosyntactic forms (noun plural, regular and irregular past tense, and third‐person singular) in oral production by Chinese‐speaking learners of English. These three structures show variable complexity and regularity.…”

“…Specific lines of inquiry have included the effect of pedagogical treatments (whether L2 learners are taught using the explicit form‐focused instruction [FFI] or communicative approach), the effect of task demands (whether the task requires analyzed knowledge and executive control), and the role of proficiency (whether varied levels of metalinguistic knowledge correlate with proficiency levels). Less investigated in the literature has been the examination of how L2 learners develop metalinguistic knowledge of grammatical forms with variable inherent characteristics (see Hu, ; Xu & Lyster, ). These characteristics include salience (whether the grammatical forms are easy to notice in the input due to being prominent), complexity (whether the surface form entails several transformational steps), 2 and regularity (whether the structure conforms to an identifiable pattern; see DeKeyser, ; N. Ellis, ; R. Ellis, ).…”

Ir a + infinitivo y la reflexión metalingüística en segunda lengua: Más allá del futuro

“…Dado que las diferencias con el otro grupo fueron estadísticamente signifi cativas, es posible afi rmar que estas tareas son decisivas en los resultados. Este hallazgo 33.2 2017 confi rma estudios anteriores que señalan que los aprendientes pueden benefi ciarse de la refl exión enfocada en la lengua (Ellis 2002;Lyster 2004) y que las explicaciones gramaticales explícitas presentan ventajas para los aprendientes (Alanen 1995;De Graaf 1997;Rosa y Leow 2004;Xu y Lyster 2014).…”

Targeting accuracy in foreign language teaching: The role of practice type in learning unsalient grammatical aspects

“…Another factor to consider is the importance of linguistic salience in the development of L2 knowledge of grammatical properties/features (Azaz, 2017; Azaz & Frank, 2017; Nassif, 2019; Xu & Lyster, 2014). As Azaz (2017) stated, in the course of the acquisition of salient features which are easy to notice in the input, metalinguistic knowledge plays an important role, suggesting the relevance of explicit instruction in the development of the features which are of low salience.…”