Explicit instruction through task repetition: effects on explicit and implicit knowledge development

Abstract

The present study explored the effect of task repetition with and without explicit instruction on EFL learners’ (n = 26) explicit and implicit English regular past tense structure development. One group (REP) repeated the same task (n = 12) while another group (EI + REP) received explicit instruction between performances of the same task (n = 14). The explicit and implicit knowledge was measured before the study began, after the main, repeated and procedural task performances, and after a two-week delay by means of an untimed grammaticality judgment test and an elicited oral imitation test respectively. The results indicated the role of explicit intervention in the EI + REP group’s both immediate and delayed explicit knowledge development, while the sole task repetition in the REP group developed a temporary attention to the target structure. Furthermore, the EI + REP condition led to implicit knowledge as elicited by an oral imitation test, but with a delay. Findings are discussed in light of the concepts of attention and processing capacity in second language acquisition.

Keywords:

• Explicit instruction
• explicit knowledge
• implicit knowledge
• task repetition
• task-based language teaching

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Dr. Luke Plonsky for his invaluable statistical advice and guidance. I am also grateful to Dr. Masatoshi Sato, Editor of Language Awareness, and the anonymous reviewers for their detailed and insightful comments on the earlier versions of this article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Sima Khezrlou

Sima Khezrlou received her PhD in TESOL from Urmia University, Iran. Her research interests include instructed second language acquisition, form-focused instruction, task-based language teaching and CALL. In addition to a number of publications in these fields, her most recent studies include a co-authored article in System (2017, with Rod Ellis and Karim Sadeghi) and studies that appear in RELC (2019), English Teaching and Learning (2019), The Language Learning Journal (2019), ELT Journal (2020), and Journal of Second Language Studies (2020).