The effect of explicit and implicit corrective feedback on the use of collocations in speaking assignments by Iranian EFL learners

Abstract

One of the main areas of research in first language (L1) and second language (L2) research which has recently attracted a lot of attention is the significance of error analysis/correction and its subsequent effects on language learning. There is a vast amount of research concerning errors and corrective feedback in language learning. What had not yet been studied widely enough and was the focus of this study, however, was what kinds of corrective feedback are more effective with regard to Iranian EFL learners’ collocation error concerning three major types of corrective feedback namely explicit and implicit corrective feedback that are provided extensively in reaction to every collocation error during free discussions. To fulfill the purpose of the study, 90 Iranian EFL learners, who were at the intermediate proficiency level of English, were chosen. Later, they were randomly assigned to three groups, composed of one control group and two experimental groups receiving oral implicit and explicit corrective feedback on error of collocations. After seven sessions of treatment, a speaking test taken from FCE test was utilized as the posttest. Based on the results, there were significant differences between the means of the three groups on the posttest of collocational errors. The explicit group significantly outperformed the implicit and control groups on the posttest. Accordingly, it was concluded that explicit corrective feedback had been the most effective method in correcting Iranian EFL learners’ collocatioal errors.