Abstract
The main aim of this article is to investigate the effectiveness of written error correction based on the principles of the Counterbalance Hypothesis [Lyster and Mori (Studies in Second Language Acquisition 28:321–334, 2006)]. The hypothesis assumes that learners’ ability to notice the gap between the ill-formed utterance produced in their interlanguage and the target linguistic form is enhanced by the shift in their attentional focus from meaning to form in a meaning-focused context and from form to meaning in in a form-oriented setting. Thus, instructional activities such as corrective feedback should act as a counterbalance to the classroom’s predominant orientation and are predicted to be more effective than interactional feedback which is congruent with the predominant foreign language teaching methodology. The study examines the differential effect of two types of written corrective feedback (CF) and the extent to which the type of foreign language instruction mediates the effects of CF on the acquisition of articles by adult intermediate Polish learners of English (N = 59). Four research groups were formed: (1) a direct-only correction group taught inductively, (2) a direct-only correction group taught deductively, (3) a direct meta-linguistic correction group taught inductively, and (4) a direct meta-linguistic correction group taught deductively. The study revealed that all the treatment groups outperformed the control group on the immediate post-tests, and the direct meta-linguistic group taught inductively performed significantly better than the remaining research groups. The results also showed that written CF targeting a single linguistic feature improved the learners’ accuracy, especially when meta-linguistic feedback was provided and the learners received the inductive type of formal instruction (FI).
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- 1.
You need ‘a’ before the noun when it is mentioned for the first time.
- 2.
You need ‘a’ before the noun when it is mentioned for the first time.
- 3.
You need ‘a’ before the noun when it is mentioned for the first time.
- 4.
You need ‘a’ before the noun when it is mentioned for the first time.
- 5.
You need ‘the’ before the noun in the superlative, ‘the nearest’.
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Appendices
Appendix 1
1.1 The Forced-Choice Elicitation Test on the English Articles (30 Items)
Direction: Underline the missing article a, an, the or zero article (Ø)
Example: I have (a, an, the, Ø) dog and two hamsters.
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1.
Woman: I bought a blue cup and a green cup. Unfortunately, (a, an, the, Ø) blue cup broke before I even got home.
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2.
Woman: Don’t go in that yard. (a, an, the, Ø) dog will bite you!
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3.
Man: They’ve just returned from New York. (a, an, the, Ø) plane was 5 h late.
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4.
Woman: The pet shop had five puppies and seven kittens. Sue thought for (a, an, the, Ø) while and chose (a, an, the, Ø) puppy.
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5.
Teacher: Amy, you probably have something on your desk in your room. What is it?
Schoolgirl: It is (a, an, the, Ø) computer.
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6.
Boy: Mum, I haven’t got anything to write with.
Woman: Wait, I have three pens in my bag. I will give you (a, an, the, Ø) pen.
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7.
Man: When I was walking down the street (a, an, the, Ø) girl came up to me and asked me about the most interesting places in the city. I told her that I couldn’t answer (a, an, the, Ø) question because I was a stranger there.
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8.
Man: Mark went to see our local football team in training. He even got an autograph from (a, an, the, Ø) player. I have no idea which one, but he was very happy.
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9.
Man: (at the dinner table) Please pass (a, an, the, Ø) butter.
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10.
Woman: We had dinner in that new Italian restaurant. I had (a, an, the, Ø) chicken and salad—both were great, but (a, an, the, Ø) dessert was far too sweet for my taste.
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11.
Boy: I dropped five coins and found only four of them, (a, an, the, Ø) missing coin is probably under (a, an, the, Ø) sofa.
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12.
Security guard: If you want to talk to (a, an, the, Ø) winner, wait until the end of (a, an, the, Ø) race.
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13.
Man: I had to get (a, an, the, Ø) taxi from the station. On the way (a, an, the, Ø) driver told me there was (a, an, the, Ø) bus strike.
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14.
Boy: Paul has many old records. His cousin borrowed (a, an, the, Ø) record from him.
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15.
Teacher: A man went to (a, an, the, Ø) jungle because he wanted to see a lion or a zebra. He looked all over and looked and looked. Who came running at (a, an, the, Ø) man?
Child: … (a, an, the, Ø) zebra.
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16.
Shop owner: We will offer a huge discount to (a, an, the, Ø) next customer.
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17.
Woman: My daughter is studying to be a lawyer. She wants to help (a, an, the, Ø) poor.
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18.
Man: We went to a wedding yesterday. I must say (a, an, the, Ø) bride was very pretty.
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19.
Passenger: (At the airport) Excuse me, I’m looking for (a, an, the, Ø) tall, red-haired girl. She’s my daughter. She was on (a, an, the, Ø) flight 239.
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20.
Hotel receptionist: Are you looking for something, madam?
Woman: Yes, I’m looking for (a, an, the, Ø) brown bag that I left here.
Key: 1 the blue cup, 2 the dog, 3 the plane, 4 a while, a puppy 5 a computer, 6 a pen, 7 a girl, the question, 8 a player, 9 the butter, 10 the chicken, the dessert, 11 the missing coin, the sofa, 12 the winner, the race, 13 a taxi, the driver, a bus strike, 14 a record, 15 the jungle, the man, a zebra, 16 the next customer, 17 the poor, 18 the bride, 19 a tall red-haired girl, flight 20 the brown bag.
Appendix 2
2.1 A Sample of a Student’s Writing Assignment with Corrections. Noun Phrases Coded for the Analysis of the Article Use Are in Boldface
One week ago I saw very interesting movie Footnote 1 I would like to write about. The movie calls Noi Albinoi, was made in Iceland and shows different problems of living in a small village. The main actor is 18 years old guy Footnote 2 with only one plan for his life. He tries to run away from this little village and look for better place Footnote 3 to live. The society try to convince him to stay because they don’t believe he should go away. He doesn’t go to school and makes new friends that’s why the rest of the villagers pull him back. He is so frustrated that’s why he decides to escape. He jumps to the boat Footnote 4 to get to nearest island Footnote 5 . Suddenly the weather changes and starts to snowing.
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Zabor, L., Rychlewska, A. (2015). The Effectiveness of Written Corrective Feedback in the Acquisition of the English Article System by Polish Learners in View of the Counterbalance Hypothesis. In: Piasecka, L., Adams-Tukiendorf, M., Wilk, P. (eds) New Media and Perennial Problems in Foreign Language Learning and Teaching. Second Language Learning and Teaching. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-07686-7_8
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