The effects of types of corrective feedback on students’ oral pragmatic competence on the use of refusals

Abstract

This experimental study was designed to investigate the effects of two corrective feedback techniques—explicit feedback and prompts—on L2 pragmatic acquisition, focusing on the use of refusals. The research aims to study the effects of explicit feedback and prompts on learners’ 1) oral refusal production, 2) pragmatic awareness of the use of refusals, and 3) level of confidence in making appropriate refusals. The participants were 39 first year English-major undergraduates of Silpakorn University. The subjects were pre-tested and categorized as high- and low-proficiency learners before assignment to two experimental groups and one control group. Each experimental group received either explicit feedback (+ immediate time/ - self-directed repair) or prompts (+ immediate time/ + self-directed repair) as their treatment, while the control group received delayed explicit feedback (- immediate time/ - self-directed repair). After the 10-week instructional intervention, the subjects were post-tested on their pragmatic production, awareness and confidence. The delayed post-test was done 13 weeks later to investigate the retention of each corrective feedback technique. Results from the study revealed that the prompts group (PG) benefited the most, vastly improving their refusal production. The PG significantly outperformed the explicit feedback group (EG) and the control group (CG) on both immediate and delayed post-tests with the difference between groups becoming more robust over time. The PG also significantly improved their pragmatic awareness compared to the other two groups on the post-test. However, the CG was found to have the greatest improvement of their confidence level after the treatment. The findings were interpreted as indicating the beneficial role of immediate corrective feedback and the superiority of prompts over explicit feedback in promoting learners’ acquisition of L2 pragmatics.