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EFFECTS OF IMPLICIT VERSUS EXPLICIT CORRECTIVE FEEDBACK ON MANDARIN TONE ACQUISITION IN A SCMC LEARNING ENVIRONMENT

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 July 2019

Lara Bryfonski  and
Xue Ma
Lara Bryfonski*
Affiliation:
Georgetown University
Xue Ma
Affiliation:
Georgetown University
*
*Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Georgetown University, Department of Linguistics, Poulton Hall 240, 1421 37th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20057. E-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

The current study investigates the effects of more explicit versus more implicit corrective feedback on beginner Mandarin learners’ perception and production of Mandarin tones. The effects of oral corrective feedback have been extensively investigated for various domains of second language acquisition (see Mackey & Goo, 2007). For phonological errors, implicit feedback has shown to be particularly salient to learners (Mackey, Gass, & McDonough, 2000) and therefore potentially more effective for tone learning. However, for lower proficiency beginners, explicit corrective feedback has been shown to be more effective (Li, 2009, 2014). Using a mixed methods design, the current study investigated the acquisition of Mandarin tones in beginner, adult learners (n = 41) enrolled in a 14-week, one-on-one, synchronous computer-mediated communication course. Learners were divided into two experimental groups: a more implicit feedback group and a more explicit feedback group. Pretests and posttests assessed changes in tone perception and production. Upon completion of the course, learners in the more implicit feedback group had greater improvement in tone production compared to the more explicit feedback group (d = .75). Both learners and the instructor indicated a preference toward recasts for tone feedback. No statistically significant differences were found for tone perception.

Type
Research Article
Information
Studies in Second Language Acquisition , Volume 42 , Issue 1 , March 2020 , pp. 61 - 88
Open Practices
Open materials
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2019 

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Footnotes

The authors would like to thank Dr. Alison Mackey for her advising, input, and feedback on all stages of design and implementation of this project. Special thanks to our colleagues Wenjia Ma and Xiaozheng Dai who reviewed and piloted instruments and provided interrater reliability, as well as Mina Niu, Xiaopei Wu, and Amelia Becker who collaborated on pilot versions of the current study and to Özgur Parlak for his feedback on the manuscript. We would also like to thank the students who participated in both semesters of data collection for their time and effort. Finally, we would like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their comments and feedback on earlier versions of this manuscript.

The experiment in this article earned an Open Materials badge for transparent practices. The materials are available at www.iris-database.org/iris/app/home/detail?id=york:936368.

References

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