The Effects of Explicit Grammar Instruction and Written Corrective Feedback on Accuracy Development in EFL Writing

Abstract

　　L2 production givesstudents opportunities to recognize and assess their current interlanguage performance and feedback on their performance can provide them with negative evidence. Both self-assessment and external provision of negative evidence are essential to enhance second language acquisition. However, simply letting students produce L2 and receive corrective feedback does not always yield optimal effects for language development. Studies have demonstrated that L2 learners sometimes need to work on other types of grammar training to develop their linguistic accuracy. This study used a pretest–posttest design to investigate whether incorporating explicit grammar instruction (EGI) into writing practice along with focused written corrective feedback (WCF) can enhance correct use of a particular grammatical structure—in this case, the adverbial dependent clause using a subordinate conjunction. 53 Japanese university students were assigned to three experimental groups (which received EGI on the target grammatical structure, WCF from the instructor, or both) and one control group. Two types of accuracy measurements, error correction tests and accuracy ratio of the target structure in the students’writing, were used in the analysis. The results indicated that only students who received both treatments made substantial progress.