Immediate vs. delayed prompts, individual differences in working memory, and L2 development

Abstract

The goal of the present study is to examine the effects of immediate and delayed corrective feedback (CF) on L2 learning as well as to explore whether individual differences in working memory (WM) have differential associations with the two CF conditions. To this end, 84 EFL learners were randomly assigned into two experimental conditions and one control group. During three treatment sessions, the participants of the immediate feedback group received CF (operationalized as prompts) immediately after making errors while doing a communicative activity. The participants in the delayed feedback group performed similar tasks but received CF at the end of the communicative task. Learners’ development was measured on three occasions before and after the treatment sessions through two testing instruments, an oral production task (OPT) and an error correction test (ECT). The learners also completed a WM measurement task known as operation span. The results indicated that both immediate and delayed CF equally contributed to the development of L2 knowledge. Furthermore, hierarchical regression analysis showed a significant association between CF timing and individual differences in WM. More specifically, it was found that learners’ WM was a significant predictor of the efficacy of immediate but not delayed CF.

ملخص البحث

الهدف من الدراسة الحالية هو اختبار تأثير التغذية الراجعة الفورية والمؤجلة على تعلم اللغة الثانية، بالإضافة إلى استكشاف ما إذا كانت هناك ارتباطات متفاوتة بين الفروق الفردية في الذاكرة العاملة وبين الحالتين المختلفتين للتغذية الراجعة. ولتحقيق هذا الهدف، تم توجيه ٨٤ من متعلمي اللغة الإنجليزية كلغة أجنبية عشوائياً إلى مجموعتين تجريبيتين ومجموعة واحدة يتم التحكم بها، خلال ثلاث جلسات علاجية، تلقى المشاركون في مجموعة التغذية الراجعة الفورية تصحيحا (تم تحقيقه عبر إعطاء تلميحات) مباشرة بعد ارتكاب الأخطاء أثناء أداء نشاط يتعلق بمهارة التواصل، أما المشاركون في مجموعة التغذية الراجعة المؤجلة، فقد قاموا بأداء أنشطة مشابهة ولكنهم تلقوا التغذية الراجعة في نهاية النشاط، تم قياس تطور المتعلمين في ثلاث مراحل قبل وبعد المعالجات من خلال استخدام أداتي إختبار، وهما مهمة الإنتاج الشفهي واختبار تصحيح الخطأ، كما أكمل المتعلمون مهمة من أجل قياس الذاكرة العاملة المعروفة باسم نطاق الاسترجاع (operation span). أظهرت النتائج أن كل من التغذية الراجعة الفورية والمؤجلة ساهمت على حد سواء في تطوير المعرفة في اللغة الثانية. علاوة على ذلك، أظهر تحليل الانحدار الهرمي وجود ارتباط كبير بين توقيت التغذية الراجعة والفروق الفردية في الذاكرة العاملة. وبصفة أكثر تحديداً، تبين أن الذاكرة العاملة لدى المتعلمين كانت عاملًا مهمًا في تنبؤ فعالية التغذية الراجعة الفورية ولكن ليس التغذية الراجعة المؤجلة.

PLAIN LANGUAGE SUMMARY

One question that is worth considering by language teachers in classrooms is whether to correct language learners’ errors immediately following the errors, that is, through immediate feedback, or at the end of a communicative activity using delayed feedback. Furthermore, it is worth investigating whether learners’ working memory (WM) capacity can impact the benefits of immediate and delayed feedback. To this end, this study investigated the effects of correcting English language learners’ errors immediately following their errors during interaction or at the end of a communicative activity. In addition, the study explored the role of learners’ WM in the effectiveness of immediate and delayed feedback. 84 English language learners participated in the study and were assigned to (a) immediate feedback, (b) delayed feedback, and (c) control groups. The participants in the three conditions performed communicative activities with an interlocutor during three sessions. The participants in the immediate feedback condition were corrected immediately after making a language error with regard to English wh-questions while the participants in the delayed feedback condition received similar feedback for their wh-question error after they finished the communicative activity. Learners’ knowledge of wh-questions was assessed before and after the corrective feedback sessions. In addition, the learners’ WM capacity was measured through a task known as operation span. Data analysis indicated that immediate and delayed feedback is equally effective to promote language learning. In addition, the results suggested that benefiting from immediate feedback was affected by learners’ WM capacity. In other words, immediate feedback was more effective for learners with higher WM capacity. No association was found between WM and delayed feedback effectiveness.

Keywords:

• Prompts
• corrective feedback
• immediate feedback
• delayed feedback
• working memory

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank Prof. Shaofeng Li for his comments on the earlier drafts of this article. I also appreciate the editor and two anonymous reviewers of Language Awareness for their valuable comments and constructive suggestions.

Disclosure statement

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