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Part of
Doing SLA Research with Implications for the Classroom: Reconciling methodological demands and pedagogical applicability
Edited by Robert M. DeKeyser and Goretti Prieto Botana
[Language Learning & Language Teaching 52] 2019
► pp. 127–154

Chapter 7
The effects of multiple exposures to explicit information

Evidence from two types of learning problems and practice conditions

| University of Southern California
| University of Maryland

The role of explicit information (EI) has long been debated in second language acquisition. Numerous studies report null effects for EI (e.g., VanPatten and Oikennon, 1996) calling for its diminution, whereas just as many point to its facilitative potential (e.g., VanPatten et al., 2013 and others), suggesting it should remain part of instruction. Previous EI studies varied with respect to the targeted learning problem, practice conditions, and EI accessibility throughout the experiment, factors which could hold the key to the divergent results found in the literature. In order to address this, a study was conducted to assess the effects of (a) multiple vs. no exposure to EI when targeting (b) learnability problems of structural vs. semantic nature and (c) under task-essential (TE) and non-task-essential practice conditions. One hundred and thirty learners of Spanish were randomly assigned to eight experimental conditions and a control group. After treatment, participants completed picture-matching, fill-in-the-gap and sentence interpretation tasks. Immediate posttest results revealed that EI was crucial for benefits to obtain under non-TE conditions whereas under TE conditions it appeared to be expendable depending on the task.

Keywords: Explicit Information, inductive instruction, deductive instruction, Spanish ser/estar , Spanish OVS
Article outline
  • Literature review
  • The present study
  • Method
    • Participants
    • Procedure
      • Targeted structure
    • Materials
      • Instruments
  • Results
    • Production task
    • Sentence matching task
    • Sentence interpretation task
  • Discussion
    • Pedagogical implications
  • Takeaways for research methodology
    • Cost and participant availability
    • Ethics – randomization, stages and disruption to the class
    • Technology – stimulus presentation software vs. authoring systems
    • Student motivation – identifying erratic behavior
    • Generalizability of the findings
  • Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
  • Appendix
Published online: 7 March 2019
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/lllt.52.07bot
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