Studies have shown that accuracy of L2 writing is improved when teachers employ direct corrective feedback (CF). Less is known about the benefits of adding some form of metalinguistic explanation to the focused direct CF. In this study, thirty-six grade nine students from two different schools in Sweden completed two sets of written tasks, one week apart. All of the students’ work was corrected using focused direct CF, with only one linguistic feature (the accurate use of the present simple and the present continuous) being the primary focus. Some of the students also received an oral metalinguistic explanation in the form of a class lecture, while others received a written, personalised metalinguistic explanation. Eleven students were subsequently interviewed.The study showed that all of the students appreciated the CF that they received and the vast majority thought that it had helped them, even if their results did not reflect this. The students who received focused direct corrective feedback with an oral explanation in the form of a class lecture showed the most consistent improvement overall.