A growing body of research has compared the effects of explicit and implicit corrective feedback (CF) on L2 accuracy. However, L2 performance is not limited to accuracy. Fluency is another important aspect of L2 performance, but less is understood about its relationship with CF and CF explicitness/implicitness. This experimental study examined the effects of explicit correction versus implicit recasts on not only the accuracy but also the fluency of L2 speech during videoconferencing. Forty-eight lower-intermediate learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) were assigned to an explicit correction group, an implicit recast group, and a no-feedback group. Each engaged in eight picture description tasks with the researcher and received feedback according to the group they came from. Pre and posttests (immediate and delayed) of accuracy and fluency were conducted using additional picture tasks. Accuracy was measured by calculating the percentage of learners’ (a) error-free clauses and (b) error-free T-units. Fluency was measured by calculating the number of (a) syllables per minute and (b) meaningful syllables per minute. Statistical analyses included (a) two-way repeated measures ANOVAs with feedback type as the between-subject factor and time as the within subject factor, (b) Planned comparisons, which treated the two experimental groups as one group and compared their mean with the mean of the control group, (c) Bonferroni post hoc tests, which examined the pairwise differences, and where needed, (d) paired sample t-tests, which examined each group’s pretest-posttest differences. As for accuracy, planned comparisons showed that videoconferencing CF, irrespective of its explicitness/implicitness, improved accuracy. Further analyses showed that whereas the explicit correction group outperformed the control group on both the immediate and delayed posttests, the recast group did not. However, the explicit feedback group produced a significantly less fluent speech compared to the recast group and the control group. But this was true on the immediate posttest and not on the delayed posttest. Pretest-posttest comparisons further indicated a negative effect for explicit correction but a positive effect for recasts on L2 fluency. The results suggest that (a) while explicit correction assisted accuracy, it negatively influenced fluency, and (b) while implicit correction seemed to assist fluency, it was not as effective as the effect of explicit correction on L2 accuracy. Further analyses indicated that the explicit correction group exhibited a large amount of monitoring behaviour on the immediate posttest, whereas the other two groups did not. The results are explained using an information-processing perspective of language performance and a knowledge proceduralization model of language development. The theoretical, empirical, and pedagogical implications are also discussed. / Graduate

This dissertation reports on an investigation of corrective feedback provided by instructors to learners in sixteen online asynchronous and synchronous interactions. The overarching objective of this study was to examine the provision of corrective feedback in computer-mediated communication (CMC) environments. This study also sought to examine the frequency of corrective feedback types and the relationship between learner error and corrective feedback provision. Finally, this study investigated what types of corrective feedback led to repaired learner responses.Over the course of one university semester, the instructors and students in four second-semester Spanish courses participated in bulletin board and chat room discussions and a detailed analysis of the transcripts revealed that instructors do provide learners with corrective feedback in online asynchronous and synchronous environments. The results also reveal that corrective feedback is more prevalent in the asynchronous environment than in the synchronous environment. A total of six corrective feedback typesexplicit correction, recasts, metalinguistic feedback, clarification request, elicitation, and repetitionwere found in these environments. All corrective feedback types were present in the asynchronous environment while repetition was not observed in the synchronous environment. The results indicate instructors overall preference for explicit correction in the asynchronous environment and preference for recasts in the synchronous environment. In the synchronous environment, different types of learner errors are followed by different types of corrective feedback. Recasts most often follow grammatical and lexical errors, while an opportunity to negotiate form is most often provided for multiple errors.

This mixed methods research study centers on learner-learner interactions; thus, contributing to the on-going investigation within negotiation and interaction, computer-mediated-communication and its role in second language learning. The specific aim was to investigate corrective feedback types, incidences, and the relationship between error and feedback type among peers within online synchronous environments in EFL classes in Slovenia, Europe. Interactional characteristics of corrective feedback with learners having a documented special need (SN) also were explored using qualitative analyses. The study encompassed 208 students that were randomly placed into 104 dyads within intact classes of Grades 7, 8, 10, and 11. There were 32 dyads in Grade 7, 16 dyads in Grade 8, 24 dyads in Grade 10, and 32 dyads in Grade 11. Three participants had a documented special need. Quantitative analysis did not reveal statistical significant difference in the incidence of corrective feedb feedback and grade level, the relationship among the type of corrective feedback and grade level, or the relationship between learner error and type of corrective feedback across grade levels. Corrective feedback types were similar to those studied in traditional classroom research (i.e., explicit corrections, recasts, negotiation of form). However, descriptive statistics and qualitative analyses revealed conversational techniques that are specific to text-based online discourses providing insight into interactional characteristics among interactants within a discourse environment that differs both from speech and written texts. Consequently, an additional corrective feedback type emerged from the data, coded as feedback request. The most frequent corrective feedback type provided was explicit corrections. Frequency data revealed that corrective feedback tended to decrease as the grade level increased. Data with SN learners indicated distinctive discourse techniques.Overall, low incidences of corrective feedback and error types might have been affected by the learner's developmental levels, social readiness, and/or psychological readiness (Oliver, 1998), as well as the learner's individual conversational styles and socio-cultural factors. Consequently, further research is warranted in examining these factors. In addition, longitudinal studies are warranted in examining whether online negotiated work lead towards L2 acquisition. Finally, the role of phantom corrective moves when coding qualitative online text data also need to be examined further.