L2 Learner Attention, Uptake, Memory and Affect in Corrective Feedback

Liqin Wu

doi:10.4236/ojml.2021.115061

Abstract

Quite different from the previous research on corrective feedback (CF), this paper is to explore learner cognitive psychology of CF in attention, uptake, memory and affect during the process of second language acquisition (SLA). An anonymous questionnaire survey of 1773 learners in four universities of Anhui province in China and 15 interviews with the participants in the survey in Anhui University of Finance and Economics (AUFE) reveal that the CF types most attracting a learner attention are elicitation and repetition in oral CF and collective CF in class and underlining the errors in written CF; that the combination of the target language and the mother tongue is the most conducive to CF uptake and memory; that learners can understand the CF once they notice and are aware of it; looking the CF over several times contributes to memory; that most learners have initiatives of learning, and euphemistic CF and correcting alone after class are the least harmful to learner affect; that a learner cognitive psychology of CF is influenced by the thinking ways and values of his or her culture; that the individual differences in learner attention, uptake, memory and affect of CF and the different levels of second language proficiency are also the key factors that have to be considered when providing CF. These findings have implications for teachers to catch learners’ attention, make them understand, memorize and deploy CF correctly in L2 learning without hurting their affect.

Highlights

Cognitive psychology is a complicated but omnipresent topic for teachers and learners, and plays a dominant role in L2 language teaching and learning
Quite different from the previous research on corrective feedback (CF), this paper is to explore learner cognitive psychology of CF in attention, uptake, memory and affect during the process of second language acquisition (SLA)
The research is comprised of a questionnaire survey with 41 items and 15 interviews to probe into L2 learner cognitive psychology of CF and the reasons behind the choices

Summary

Introduction

Cognitive psychology is a complicated but omnipresent topic for teachers and learners, and plays a dominant role in L2 language teaching and learning. This model was proved to be effective in the experiment of Hulstijin and Hulstijin (1984) They assume that learners are dissimilar either on the executive control dimension or on the metacognitive dimension, i.e. they differ between controlled and automatic processing, and between implicit and explicit knowledge of language. It essentially amounts to “the contents of STM plus the limited-capacity controlled attention processes associated with the central executive that can be used to maintain some set of those STM units as the focus of attention” (Engle et al, 1999) It has been viewed as a critical cognitive construct in human cognition and has triggered diverse researches in cognitive psychology. In Mackey and colleagues’ (2002) research on the role of WMC in interaction, noticing, and L2 English question development, it was found that more noticing (of recasts) occurred among high-span learners, whereas less noticing was associated with low-span learners

Affect

The Questionnaire Survey

Interviews

Findings

Conclusion