The Effects of Recasts and Working Memory on the Development of Implicit and Explicit Knowledge

Abstract

AbstractThis paper aims to investigate the effects of recasts and working memory on the acquisition of Korean morphological causatives by advanced Chinese learners of Korean. Participants were randomly assigned to two groups: A experimental group and a control group. The experimental group received intensive recasts during task-based interaction, whereas the control group did not. The effects of recasts were measured by two types of tests: An elicited imitation test, as a measure of implicit knowledge, and an untimed grammaticality judgment test, as a measure of explicit knowledge. The findings are as follows. First, from the pretest to the delayed posttest, recasts facilitated the learners’ acquisition of causative construction by developing both their implicit and explicit knowledge. Second, the results of delayed posttests showed that recasts were more effective in aiding the development of implicit knowledge than explicit knowledge. Third, working memory was found to be a significant covariate in the facilitative effects of recasts on explicit knowledge; that is, it mediated the development of explicit knowledge via recasts as a significant individual difference factor. The effects of recasts were maintained even when the impact of working memory was controlled. (189 words)