纠错反馈方式和工作记忆容量对英语学习者动词过去式习得的影响

Effects of Corrective Feedback Types and Working Memory on EFL Learners’Acquisition of English Verb Past Tense Forms

本研究考察纠错反馈方式和工作记忆容量对英语学习者动词过去式习得的影响。120名来自中国某大学二年级非英语专业学生参加了本次实验。研究者通过电脑版操作广度测试测量受试的工作记忆容量后,将受试分入重述反馈组、元语言反馈组和控制组。实验组受试在完成图片描述任务过程中接受本族语者针对其动词过去式错误提供的重述和元语言反馈,控制组受试不接受反馈。研究者采用语法判断和口语模仿的形式考察受试在前测、后测和延后测试中接受不同反馈后的效果。研究结果发现:元语言反馈的即时纠错效果要明显好于重述反馈,但重述反馈的纠错效果更具有延续性;高工作记忆容量对元语言反馈和重述反馈纠错效果都有显著作用,但其作用可能受到语法练习的影响。研究者讨论了纠错反馈在二语习得中的作用,并对今后的研究和教学提出了建议。

The study investigates how different types of corrective feedback and working memory capacity affect EFL learners’acquisition of English past tense of verbs.The participants were 120 non-English major sophomores from a Chinese university.The participants’working memory capacity was measured by a computerized Operation Span Task.They were assigned to three dyadic NS-NNS(native speaker-nonnative speaker)interaction conditions and received recasts,metalinguistic correction and no feedback(control group)in response to their non-target-like oral production of English verb past tense forms in a picture description task.The treatment effects were measured by a Grammatical Judgment Test and an Oral Imitation Test in a pretest-immediate posttest-delayed posttest design.The results showed that metalinguistic correction worked better than recasts in the short term,while the effects of recasts were more durable than metalinguistic correction.The analyses further indicated that high working memory capacity mediated the effects of both metalinguistic correction and recasts and its mediation was correlated with the practice of grammatical rules.We discuss implications of the results in terms of the role of corrective feedback in language acquisition and provide suggestions for future research and pedagogy.