Effectiveness of L2 Instruction: A Research Synthesis and Quantitative Meta‐analysis

Abstract

This study employed (and reports in detail) systematic procedures for research synthesis and meta-analysis to summarize findings from experimental and quasi-experimental investigations into the effectiveness of L2 instruction published between 1980 and 1998. Comparisons of average effect sizes from 49 unique sample studies reporting sufficient data indicated that focused L2 instruction results in large target-oriented gains, that explicit types of instruction are more effective than implicit types, and that Focus on Form and Focus on Forms interventions result in equivalent and large effects. Further findings suggest that the effectiveness of L2 instruction is durable and that the type of outcome measures used in individual studies likely We thank Craig Chaudron for prompting this research through discussions in his graduate seminar at the University of Hawai'i in the spring of 1997, and through a plenary he delivered at the seventh annual AAAL conference in Orlando, Florida, March, 1997 (we regret only that he failed to mention the enormity of such an undertaking). A second graduate seminar at the University of Hawai'i, taught by Cathy Doughty in the fall of 1997, provided the optimal context for early stages of the project, and initial findings were presented at the ninth annual AAAL conference, Stamford, Connecticut, March 7, 1999. We thank Cathy Doughty and Mike Long for supporting our work and, most importantly, for cultivating a domain of research worth synthesizing.

Counterpoint Piece: The Case for Variety in Corrective Feedback Research

“…Goo and Mackey argue that because (a) internal validity trumps external or ecological validity and (b) real-world settings do not allow adequate control over variables, lab research is the only option. We believe (along with many others, including (Norris & Ortega, 2000 ;Spada, 2011 ). Unfortunately, as we have seen, CF in lab settings and CF in classrooms do not always operate similarly.…”

Pragmatic Consciousness-raising Activities and EFL Learners’ Speech Act Performance of ‘Making Suggestions’

“…The findings of the present study also revealed that pragmatic consciousness-raising activities can have a durable positive effect on EFL learners' performance of the speech act of suggesting for a period of at least two months. Norris and Ortega (2000) showed that the effectiveness of instruction on L2 grammar acquisition lasted beyond its immediate effects, despite its gradual deterioration. In pragmatics research, Narita (2012) and Takimoto (2012) reported a durable effect of PCR activities and metapragmatic discussion on learners' pragmatic production that lasted for a while after the immediate posttest.…”

Research on form-focused instruction in immersion classrooms: implications for theory and practice

“…Accordingly, form-focused instructional activities are generally considered most effective when embedded in communicative contexts, even though the extent to which form-focused instruction must be integrated into communicative activities is still open to debate (e.g., Lightbown, 1998;Ellis, 2002). Also open to further inquiry are the differential effects of formfocused instructional options that vary in degrees of explicitness, as well as the types of L2 features that can most benefit from form-focused instruction (see Spada, 1997;Doughty and Williams, 1998;Long and Robinson, 1998;Lightbown and Spada, 1999;Norris and Ortega, 2000;Ellis, 2001).…”