Effects of Types of Oral Corrective Feedback and Learner Aptitude on the Acquisition of Explicit and Implicit Knowledge of English Articles

This study investigated the effects of two types of corrective feedback (CF), recasts and metalinguistic feedback (implicit vs. explicit CF), on the development of implicit and explicit knowledge of English articles. It also examined the relationship between learners’ language aptitude, in particular language analytic ability, and their knowledge development through different types of CF. Six intact intermediate communication English classes (a total of 104 students and two English-speaking teachers) at a university participated in the present study. In CF groups, learners received recasts or metalinguistic feedback (MF) to the errors of the English articles during communicative activities, while no CF was given to the control group. The study employed a pretest-posttest-delayed posttest design, and four different tests were used to measure learner implicit and explicit knowledge. The study found both recasts and MF effective in the development of implicit knowledge and selective effects of recasts on the improvement of explicit knowledge. This suggests that both implicit and explicit CF bring about the development of implicit and explicit knowledge. In addition, language analytic ability was found to be closely related to learners’ gains through both CF and development of explicit and implicit knowledge of English articles.