The Effects of Corrective Feedback on Verb Tense Acquisition: An Annotated Bibliography
This is my reference list for an annotated bibliography I wrote for my Second Language Acquisition class in Autumn of 2011. I will post the individual annotations one-by-one with links back to this page.
These studies in this annotated bibliography are centred on focus-on-form techniques for improving learner output. Although one can look at this technique as a type of scaffolding as in Vygotskian Sociocultural Theory (SCT), these studies are concerned with output as a product, rather than the participation metaphor of learning. These studies are thus rooted in the Input, Interaction, Output Model of SLA. This model combines Long's Interaction Hypothesis, which is based on Krashen's Input Theory but stresses that comprehensible input must come from interaction, and the Output Theory of Swain, which emphasises the role of comprehensible output in language acquisition (Gass and Mackey, 2007).Long has also suggested that interactionally supplied comprehensible input provides positive evidence or “'models of what is grammatical and acceptable'” (Ellis & Barkhuizen, 2009: 168). He has also suggestedthat corrective feedback (CF)leading to modified output provides negative evidence or “'direct or indirect evidence of what is grammatical'” (Ellis & Barkhuizen, 2009: 169).
This paper contains summaries and analyses of 8 different studies which examined the role of CF on the acquisition of verb tense for learners of English, in both ESL and EFL contexts. Most often the studies considered the effects of recasts—the partial or complete repetition of a learner's preceding utterance, which preserves the original structure, while changing a non-target-like form—on learner acquisition of verb tense. Many of the studies also examine the role of explicit corrective feedback, which may include meta-linguistic explanations, exact repetition, clarification requests and elicitation as strategies. While the definition of recast does not change much throughout these studies, the way researchers operationalise explicit corrective feedback can vary substantially, so each summary contains the specific features of explicit feedback for a given study.
This project began as a very general topic regarding the effects of explicit corrective feedback (CF) on language acquisition; however, there is a great deal of information on CF, so it was necessary to limit to the effects of explicit CF on the regular -ed past tense in English. This turned out to be too narrow of a topic and required expansion to the effects of CF on verb tense acquisition. Several studies do focus on the regular -ed past tense, because it is a morpheme which is introduced early in language pedagogy but acquired later in development (Yang and Lyster, 2010; Ellis et al., 2006; Loewen and Erlam, 2006); however, some studies focus on mood as well (Campillo, 2003), tense consistency (Han, 2002), the effects of CF on noticing and noticing's relationship to production of questions, articles and the past tense (Mackey, 2006) and the present perfect (Perdomo, 2008).
My findings in this examination of the literature in this area are that implicit feedback in the form of recasts is more effective than no feedback for verbal tense acquisition, but that explicit feedback is generally more effective than implicit feedback. Another finding is that explicit feedback is inconsistently operationalised in this area, making it difficult to tell if any specific type of explicit CF is the most effective on learner acquisition of language. Finally, several studies mention the effect of noticing CF to a greater degree of acquisition, which these studies link with more explicit types of CF.
Campillo, P. S. (2003). An analysis of implicit and explicit feedback on grammatical accuracy. Miscelánes: A Journal of English and American Studies, 27, 209-228.
Dabaghi, A. & Tavakoli, M. (2009). A comparison of the effects of corrections on definite/indefinite articles and regular/irregular past tense forms: A case of Iranian EFL learners. Asian EFL Journal, 11(4), pp. 90-114.
Gass, S. & Mackey, A. (2007). Input, interaction, and output in second language acquisition. In VanPatten, B. and Williams, J. (Eds.), Theories in Second Language Acquisition (pp. 175 – 199). New York_ Routledge.
Ellis, R. & Barkhuizen, G. (2009). Analysing learner language. Oxford University Press: Oxford.
Ellis, R., Loewen, S., & Erlam, R. (2006). Implicit and explicit corrective feedback and the acquisition of L2 grammar. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 28, 339-368. doi: 10.1017/S0272263106060141
Han, Z. (2002). A study of the impact of recasts on tense consistency in L2 output. TESOL Quarterly, 36(4), 543-572.
Loewen, S. & Erlam, R. (2006). Corrective feedback in the chatroom: an experimental study. Computer Assisted Language Learning, 19(1), 1–14. doi: 10.1080/09588220600803311
Mackey, A. (2006). Feedback, noticing and instructed second language learning. Applied Linguistics, 27(3),405-430.
Perdomo, B. (2008). Effectiveness of recasts in the teaching of EFL. The Asian EFL Journal, 10(2), 155 – 166.
Yang, Y. and Lyster, R. (2010). Effects of form-focused practice and feedback on Chinese EFL learners' acquisition of regular and irregular past tense forms. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 32, 235-263.doi: 10.1017/S0272263109990519
Copyright 2011 Arianna Morgan, all rights reserved.