An Investigation Into Effects of Feedback Through Grammar Explanation and Direct Correction in Second Language Writing

Abstract

The effects of direct and indirect feedback on second language (L2) writing have especially received attention from researchers in the field of second language acquisition (SLA). With both direct and indirect feedback on all errors made by students beign unmistakably a large burden on teachers' time and energy, there is a pedagogical importance of investigating the effect of grammar explanation as opposed to providing such feedback. For this reason, the current research aims to look at the effect grammar explanation has on students' accuracy in English composition writing. Using a pretest-treatment-posttest research design with 111 Japanese university students of English as a foreign language (EFL), we compared effectiveness of direct feedback and grammar explanation on explicit understanding of past hypothetical conditionals in English. Results show (a) improvement was seen from the pretest to the posttest, regardless of the group participants belonged to, and (b) there were no salient differences in how much each group improved. These results are discussed with reference to theories and empirical evidence in SLA. Limitations, future directions, and some pedagogical implications are also discussed.