Explicit and Implicit Feedback, Modified Output, and SLA: Does Explicit and Implicit Feedback Promote Learning and Learner–Learner Interactions?

Abstract

Research on interactional feedback has typically focused on feedback learners receive from native speakers (i.e., NS–learner contexts). However, for many second language (L2) learners, the majority of their opportunities to engage in interaction occur with other learners (i.e., learner–learner contexts). The literature has suggested that feedback in learner–learner interaction contexts differs from that found in NS–learner contexts in the quantity of feedback moves (e.g., Mackey, Oliver, & Leeman, 2003), types of feedback used (Pica, Lincoln‐Porter, Paninos, & Linnell, 1996), and narrowness of linguistic foci (Toth, 2008). The current study examines how learners provide each other with two types of input‐providing feedback, recasts (implicit feedback), and explicit corrections (explicit feedback), in order to investigate how different types of feedback and responses to feedback promote learning of English past tense and locatives. Findings suggest a limited evidence for a relationship between implicit feedback, modified output, and L2 learning, and evidence for a negative effect of explicit corrections from peers. These findings indicate that the role of feedback and modified output in learning may be different in learner–learner interactions than has been found in NS–learner interactions.