Effect on Grammar Acquisition by Order of Implicit and Explicit Instruction RACHEL A. BRANCH

Related Research  Many studies have been done in SLA research on the effectiveness of implicit vs. explicit grammar instruction Explicit Instruction Is Most Effective Implicit Instruction Is Most Effective Both Explicit and Implicit Instruction Are Necessary Akakura (2012)Krashen (2003)R. Ellis (2005) Spada and Tomita (2010)- meta-analysis Macaro and Masterman (2006) Hulstijn (2002) Scheffler and Cincala (2010) Nassaji and Fotos (2011) Long (1996)Swan (2005)

The Problem  A number of researchers (e.g. Loewen, 2015) have concluded that learners benefit most from a combination of both explicit and implicit instruction  But what about the order of instruction?  Does the order of implicit and explicit instruction affect implicit and explicit knowledge?

Research Questions  1. Does the order in which implicit and explicit grammatical instruction is presented in the classroom affect either implicit or explicit knowledge of the grammar?  2. If so, is implicit followed by explicit or explicit followed by implicit instruction more effective for implicit and explicit grammar acquisition?

Participants  12 international graduate students at Texas Tech University studying in various fields  Students in the International Teaching Assistant preparation class at TTU  Average English proficiency level between intermediate and advanced  8 of the participants were male and 4 were female  5 of the participants were Chinese, 2 were Saudi Arabian, 1 was Mexican, 1 was Korean, 1 was Taiwanese, 1 was Brazilian, and 1 was Argentinian.  Their ages ranged from 24 to 42-years-old

Treatment  Target structure: Untrue in the present and future conditional Day 1Day 2 Treatment Group 140 minute session of explicit instruction on target structure 25 minute session of implicit instruction on target structure Treatment Group 225 minute session of implicit instruction on target structure 40 minute session of explicit instruction on target structure Control GroupNo instruction on target structure

Treatment Implicit Instruction SessionExplicit Instruction Session 5 minutes Students listened to song containing target structure while reading lyrics 10 minutes Teacher led class discussion about meaning of song (no mention of target structure) 10 minutes Students wrote sentences about what they would do in certain situations 15 minutes Teacher explained how to form target structure and in what situations it is used 10 minutes Students filled in blanks on board forming sentences with target structure 15 minutes Students wrote their own sentences using target structure correctly

Assessment Implicit Knowledge Assessment  10 oral questions  3 contained target structure/ 7 distractors  Participants could not see questions  Participants given 20 seconds to answer each question  Each session was recorded Explicit Knowledge Assessment  10 written fill-in-the-blank questions  3 contained target structure/ 7 distractors  Participants given 10 minutes to fill in blanks with correct forms of verbs provided in parentheses

Data Analysis Implicit Knowledge Assessment  +1 if participant used target structure correctly  0 if participant used target structure incorrectly  +.5 if participant used the target structure in one clause correctly and in one clause incorrectly  Perfect score= 3 Explicit Knowledge Assessment  +1 if participant used target structure correctly  0 if participant used target structure incorrectly  Perfect score= 3

Results

Discussion  RQ 1- Does the order in which implicit and explicit grammatical instruction is presented in the classroom affect either implicit or explicit knowledge of the grammar?  Maybe  We will get a more clear picture after the delayed post-test results

Discussion  RQ 2- If so, is implicit followed by explicit or explicit followed by implicit instruction more effective for implicit and explicit grammar acquisition?  Explicit knowledge- group 1 (the group that received explicit instruction first) had greater gains than the other two groups  Implicit knowledge- group 2 (the group that received implicit instruction first) had the greatest gains, followed closely by the CONTROL GROUP  Cumulative gains- group 2 had the greatest cumulative gains

Limitations  Study limited to 2 treatment sessions over 1 week  Very small n size  Only looked at acquisition of 1 target structure

Implications/Future Work  Based on the results of this study, implicit followed by explicit instruction is associated with greater gains in implicit grammatical knowledge, and explicit followed by implicit instruction is associated with greater gains in explicit grammatical knowledge, at least with regard to this target structure  Future studies asking the same question about order of instruction should include larger n sizes, longer treatment periods, and use a variety of target structures

Thank You!