An Investigation of the Role of Explicit and Implicit Instruction in Second Language Acquisition: A Case of English Embedded Question

Manoochehr Jafarigohar ,Fatemeh Hemmati ,Hassan Soleimani ,Mehri Jalali

doi:10.7575/aiac.ijalel.v.4n.3p.98

Manoochehr Jafarigohar , Fatemeh Hemmati + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.7575/aiac.ijalel.v.4n.3p.98

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Abstract

The present study examined the facilitative effects of three types of input-based (explicit and implicit) instruction on the intake and acquisition of the English embedded questions. The participants were 105 Iranian EFL learners from four intact classes who were randomly assigned to three treatment groups of processing instruction (PI), consciousness-raising tasks (C-R), textual input enhancement (TE), and one control group (CO). A quasi-experimental design with a pretest-treatment-posttest (immediate and delayed) sequence was used. Assessment consisted of a grammar knowledge test which included interpretation and production tasks at sentence level and a timed grammaticality judgment test. The results of data analysis indicated that all treatment groups performed significantly better than the control group on the interpretation tests over time and the treatments were also effective in improving the intake of the target structure measured through grammaticality judgment test. Moreover, all types of instruction were effective in improving the learners’ production tests except the TE. Since PI was superior to other groups in all of the tests one reasonable pedagogical implication is that explicit instruction is a more effective technique in helping EFL learners to acquire target grammatical forms.

Highlights

The positive role of instruction in Second Language Acquisition (SLA) has long been a controversial issue
The results of data analysis indicated that all treatment groups performed significantly better than the control group on the interpretation tests over time and the treatments were effective in improving the intake of the target structure measured through grammaticality judgment test
Given that the effectiveness of explicit or implicit instruction still remains in question, this study has investigated the comparative effectiveness of three input-based instructional treatments, namely processing instruction (PI), consciousness-raising tasks (C-R), and textual input enhancement (TE) that differ in their degree of instructional explicitness

Summary

Introduction

The positive role of instruction in Second Language Acquisition (SLA) has long been a controversial issue. This debate takes place at two fundamental levels. Some other scholars (e.g., Doughty & Williams, 1998) have made a case in favor of instruction. They claim that while there is a common recognition that much of the second language (L2) can be learnt naturally, there are certain linguistic features that cannot be acquired by L2 learners except they receive instruction. Implicit instruction makes no overt reference to rules or forms and engages language learners in different communicative activities that will trigger natural acquisitional processes (Scheffler & Cinciała, 2010)

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