Task Repetition and Corrective Feedback: The Role of Feedback Types and Structure Saliency

Abstract

This study investigated the effects of task and procedural repetition provided with oral corrective feedback on the development of regular and irregular past tense structures. Seventy-four English as a foreign language (EFL) learners in mixed-age groups from a private language institute were randomly assigned to four conditions: input-providing recasts with exact task repetition (IP+TR), input-providing recasts with procedural repetition (IP+PR), output-prompting clarification requests with exact task repetition (OP+TR), and output-prompting clarification requests with procedural repetition (OP+PR). Learners took part in a pretest, three repeated task performances, and a delayed posttest over a 6-week period. Corrective feedback either as recast or clarification requests was provided to the groups after the performance of the first task. The task repetition groups repeated the same narrative task with the same content, while the procedural repetition groups performed the same task procedure with different content on 3 consecutive days. Statistical comparisons revealed the superiority of clarification requests over recasts irrespective of repetition type or linguistic structure. Additionally, structure saliency and task repetition had the most notable influence on the IP+TR group by enhancing the impact of recasts that otherwise had limited effect. These findings are discussed in terms of different features of task repetition and the role of corrective feedback in directing attention to form.