Form-focused instruction, whether via focused communication tasks or contextualized practice activities, significantly improves learners' explicit knowledge of past unreal conditionals relative to a control group, with gains durable for ten weeks¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · causal r2 · q3 · i3 large
Currency · newest study 2011 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q3 i3 Both experimental groups significantly outperformed the control group on written tests of explicit knowledge at immediate posttest, with large effect sizes (d = .97 and d = .79). → Broszkiewicz 2011 q3 i? The two experimental groups did not differ significantly from each other on any written test, and both maintained significant gains over the control at delayed posttest. → Broszkiewicz 2011

Evidence¶

Broszkiewicz 2011¶

Broszkiewicz, A. (2011). The effect of focused communication tasks on instructed acquisition of English past counterfactual conditionals. Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching, 1(3), 335-363. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1136449

q3 · i3 · causal · r2

Quasi-experiment with 45 year-one BA students in three groups; written tests of explicit knowledge administered as pretest, posttest and delayed posttest. The article reports the posttest means and large effect sizes, and states both groups "reached statistically significant gains over the CG on the delayed posttest" (p < .001).

"having been subjected to the instructional treatment, the two experimental groups outperformed the CG on the immediate posttest significantly (FCT = 87.81%, CPA = 84.69%, CG = 74.58%) with the effect sizes deemed large ( d = .97, d = .79)"

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Instruction with focused communication tasks produced a significantly larger gain in implicit knowledge of past unreal conditionals than control instruction on an elicited imitation test — related
• Corrective feedback on second-language errors has a significant effect on L2 development that is maintained on delayed tests — related
• Explicit L2 grammar instruction leads to larger learning effects than implicit instruction, as reported in the reviewed synthesis literature — a broader claim this one bears on