This study investigated the effects of task complexity on child learners' second language (L2) gains, the relationship between aptitude and L2 development, and the extent to which task complexity influences this relationship when recasts are provided. Sixty child EFL learners were assigned to two experimental groups. During the treatment, one…

Learning a language in a formal context is not the same as learning a language in a natural setting, in that the goal of one of the participants in the communicative events that occur in the classroom, the teacher, is to teach a language. For this reason, the majority of the actions undertaken by the participants are directed at achieving that…

The present study compared L2 and L3 learners of the same additional language in two parallel case studies framed within a Vygotskyan SCT perspective to examine how foreign language learners' background knowledge impacts on the path of their development. Interactive data were collected on the development of interrogative formation by four Persian…

Corrective feedback (CF) is an important part of effective instruction, and a rich body of research has investigated how best to implement various CF strategies and approaches. Researchers have increasingly become aware of individual differences that have an impact on the effect and effectiveness of CF. One area of individual difference that has…

This article reports on a classroom-based study that examined the effects of direct focused and unfocused written corrective feedback (WCF) on the accuracy development of the past hypothetical conditional (e.g., "If I had had money, I would have bought a new computer.") and the indefinite article (a/an). The study employed a…

This study examines the effects of the timing of explicit instruction (EI) on grammatical accuracy. A total of 123 learners were divided into two groups: those with some productive knowledge of past-counterfactual conditionals (+Prior Knowledge) and those without such knowledge (-Prior Knowledge). Each group was divided into four conditions. Two…

This study investigated the role of corrective feedback timing in the acquisition of Spanish noun--adjective gender agreement. Forty-five learners completed a communicative task via synchronous computer-mediated communication (SCMC) in one of three groups (immediate, delayed, control). The immediate-feedback group received error reformulations…

Effectively leading whole-class mathematics discussions is made more difficult when students' contributions are incomplete, imprecise, or not yet correct, and not easily correctable--what we call "errors." Through purposefully designed opportunities to investigate, enact, and reflect on teaching, teacher candidates (TCs) can develop…

This study explored the potential effects of communicative tasks developed using a reformulation of a task-based language teaching called Automatization in Communicative Contexts of Essential Speech Sequences (ACCESS) that includes automatization of language elements as one of its goals on learner attention to form in task-based interaction. The…

It is widely accepted that the learning of a new language, among other advantages, promotes respect and interest of the students towards other cultures and languages. The question is how learning languages can be promoted in educational settings. The aim of the present study is to explore the principles of communicative language teaching in…

The study investigated the effects of recasts and prompts on learning language forms that arose incidentally in dyadic interaction, focusing on the degree of explicitness of each type of feedback and learner proficiency levels. The data were collected from 64 beginning and upper-intermediate English learners of Korean. Thirty-one beginning…

This study investigated the effects of extensive versus intensive recasts. The focus was on the effect of feedback on learning English articles, which, as nonsalient target structures, have been shown to be difficult for many second language learners. Intensive recasts were operationalized as recasts provided on article errors only, while…

The idea that task-based learning can be facilitated through negotiated interaction has been a major object of research amongst scholars interested in task-based language teaching for at least 30 years. In this article, I focus largely on one particular type of negotiation--the negotiation of form (hereafter NoF). My purpose is not to cast doubt…

This study examines the effect of prompts and recasts in providing CF for the article errors by Kurdish-Arabic bilinguals who learn English as a third language. 39 lower-intermediate Kurdish-Arabic bilingual learners of English were tested on three tests: pre-, post-, and delayed post-tests. The participants were randomly put into three groups:…

Automated written corrective feedback (AWCF) has qualities that distinguish it from teacher-provided WCF and potentially undermine claims about its value for L2 student writers, including disparities in the amounts of useful information it provides across error types and the fact that inaccuracies in error-flagging must be anticipated. It remains…