This chapter discusses the necessary components of second language acquisition, that is, input, interaction, and output. While all language learning theories support the importance of input (written and spoken), they diverge in ways which input is connected to second language acquisition. The chapter then examines some of the second language acquisition theories, such as the interaction hypothesis, the noticing hypothesis, the cognitive-interactionist approach, the output hypothesis, and sociocultural theory, all of which explains how interaction leads to second language acquisition. The chapter moves onto specific pedagogical frameworks that support interaction, including communicative language teaching and task-based language teaching. Finally, the chapter delves into the role that output plays by discussing its functions for second language acquisition.

This chapter focuses on instructed second language acquisition research that examines second language learning specifically in instructional contexts, broadly construed (e.g., classrooms, online learning, self-study). The scope of the research field is discussed by distinguishing it from broader second language acquisition research. In essence, the chapter addresses the primary question that researchers and teachers are interested in: Can instruction help learners develop their second language proficiency? The chapter then answers the follow-up question which is: Which types of instruction are more or less helpful? In answering this question, the chapter considers the goals that learners and other stakeholders, such as teachers and parents, have for their second language development. It discusses different types of second language knowledge (implicit and explicit knowledge) as the goal of second language instruction. Finally, the chapter explores pedagogical issues and ends by considering a taxonomy that describes various approaches and methodologies to second language teaching.

Feedback is widely considered an effective instructional technique that improves learning outcomes across a variety of multimedia learning environments, including interactive lessons, educational games, and simulations. The effectiveness of feedback depends on a number of factors, and in this chapter we focus on the content of the feedback message and compare corrective and explanatory feedback. Corrective feedback informs learners whether they were right or wrong, and explanatory feedback provides learners with an explanation for why their response was correct or incorrect. The feedback principle states that novices learn better with explanatory feedback than corrective feedback alone. In this chapter, we present evidence concerning the feedback principle, discuss boundary conditions that can limit its effectiveness, and explore adaptive training as an approach to mitigate some of these boundary conditions.

Drawing from classroom examples of ‘focus on form’, this chapter demonstrates how ‘form’ covers more than just grammar. Referring to second language acquisition research, it explores why a focus on form may be particularly important in the foreign language learning context and why the adolescent learner may be particularly able to benefit from opportunities to focus on features of language. The chapter presents a wide range of options of opportunities to focus on form, including an emphasis on the importance of giving explanations and on the potential for learners to learn from the feedback they get when using the language to communicate. The chapter draws on examples from a range of language classrooms and, also includes examples of the types of planned exercises teachers use to draw learner attention to form.

This chapter outlines the rationale for the volume as well as its scope and structure. The theoretical and empirical bases for the study of corrective feedback as well as ways to employ corrective feedback in second language instruction are presented first followed by the aims of the book, its target audience, and a description of the book’s structure and content.

This chapter describes tools that have been used to measure the effectiveness of corrective feedback ranging from classic instruments such as interactive tasks, to innovative methods recently adopted from related fields like psychology and educational measurement. As part of describing these measurement tools, we also discuss how factors in their use, such as the instructions, the participants, and their roles, need to be considered when assessing the efficacy of feedback. We describe tools used in classrooms and laboratory settings, including introspective methods such as think-alouds, immediate recalls, stimulated recall, interviews, journals, blogs, and uptake sheets, as well as external measurements. We outline the use of tasks in both face-to-face and computer-mediated contexts. We conclude our chapter with a discussion of future directions in measuring the effectiveness of corrective feedback on linguistic development and pedagogical implications.

A question that is of central significance but has been largely ignored in the literature is whether learners of different age groups benefit from corrective feedback in different ways. This chapter seeks to discuss the theory, research, and pedagogy pertaining to the role of age in mediating the incidence and effects of corrective feedback. The chapter begins with a theoretical explanation of the relationship between age and corrective feedback. It then zeroes in on descriptive research investigating feedback provided to children by their parents or caregivers while acquiring their first language. It proceeds to discuss feedback in second language learning, summarizing descriptive research conducted in the language classroom and laboratory contexts. The effects of input-providing and output-prompting feedback from descriptive and experimental research were analyzed through the lens of participants’ ages. One pattern that emerged from the research is that output-prompting feedback leads to greater linguistic gains than input-providing feedback among child learners. The chapter concludes with implications for researchers and teachers, proposing ways to carry out research to examine the various issues surrounding the role of age through research and ways to maximize the effects of feedback for learners of different ages in the second language classroom.

The chapter outlines the interactionist approach to corrective feedback in second language (L2) acquisition. Input-providing and output-prompting feedback types are addressed, including their potential role in facilitating L2 development. Historical and contemporary interactionist research is overviewed, and suggestions are made for future work in this area. The chapter closes with pedagogical recommendations for the use of corrective feedback in L2 classrooms.

Given that the pedagogical potential of corrective feedback (CF) for second language (L2) pronunciation development has received rapidly increasing interest in recent years (e.g., Saito & Lyster, 2012 in Language Learning), it is timely and prudent to provide a piece of scholarly work which focuses on synthesizing and presenting the current state of affairs. According to existing descriptive studies, both teachers and learners equally consider the provision of CF to be a crucial component of L2 pronunciation development, especially when the errors in question hinder successful communication. More recently, a growing number of scholars have investigated the acquisitional value of pronunciation-focused CF by conducting quasi-experimental studies with a pre-test/post-test design in both classroom and laboratory settings. Whereas the results have generally shown that pronunciation-focused CF facilitates the development of both segmental and suprasegmental accuracy, the effectiveness of such CF techniques appears to be subject to a great deal of individual variability. Specifically, the potentials of pronunciation-focused CF can be maximized (a) when L2 learners have enough phonetic knowledge, conversational experience, and perceptual awareness of target sounds; (b) when CF provides model pronunciation forms (e.g., recasts rather than prompts); and (c) when the target of instruction concerns communicatively important and salient features.

This chapter introduces the methodological tools of research synthesis in the context of corrective feedback (CF) research and highlights findings in this area generated by synthetic approaches. Meta-analysis, the most common approach to research synthesis in applied linguistics, has quickly gained much popularity in CF research, with at least twenty meta-analyses conducted on CF by the time of this publication (more than in any other area of applied linguistics research). The chapter describes the value of research synthesis to CF research and how meta-analyses have helped consolidate findings in this domain and provided insight into the range of moderating variables that may influence the effectiveness of CF. Methodological synthesis, a type of research synthesis used for taking inventory of methodological approaches, has also provided guidance for future advancements in designing research methodology in this domain, which are explored. The chapter concludes by summarizing the contributions of research synthesis within CF research and provides cautious guidance in the interpretation of findings in synthetic research.

This chapter investigates oral corrective feedback (CF) in content-based contexts. Specifically, it examines how CF can play a unique and necessary role in these contexts as a means of integrating language into content instruction. However, based on studies showing teachers’ reluctance to use CF, this chapter also outlines how CF may come into direct conflict with other content-based pedagogical objectives. Owing to the great amount of diversity found among content-based contexts, this chapter considers both cross-context, CF-related issues that can inform all content-based programs as well as issues regarding CF’s use and effectiveness in specific contexts.

This chapter addresses the topic of training in corrective feedback. The chapter discusses the role and importance of training and also how feedback training can assist feedback provision and processing. To this end, empirical studies on both teacher and student training of feedback and their implications are discussed. This discussion is limited to oral corrective feedback, since much of the research on feedback training concerns oral feedback. Pedagogical implications as well as directions for future investigations are also discussed.

The role of corrective feedback (CF) in the L2 learning process has for decades remained a dominant issue in the (I)SLA strands of research, albeit some overlapping between these two contexts. Indeed, there are several cognitive theoretical underpinnings cited by empirical CF studies to account for the role or lack thereof of CF in the L2 learning process, for example, the Monitor Model (Krashen, 1982), the Interaction Hypothesis (Long, 1996), the Noticing Hypothesis (Schmidt, 1990), the Output Hypothesis (Swain, 2005), Skill Acquisition Theory (DeKeyser, 2015), and the Model of the L2 learning process in ISLA (Leow, 2015), be it oral, written, or computerized or digital. This chapter (1) traces the early roots of CF, (2) presents a coarse-grained theoretical feedback processing framework to discuss the cognitive theoretical underpinnings postulated to account for the role of CF in L2 development, (3) provides a list of cognitive processes assumed to play a role during CF appropriation, and (4) reports on each theoretical underpinning followed by a commentary on their ability to account for the role of CF in L2 development.

Three decades of research have established that simultaneous computer-mediated communication (SCMC) can impact L2 development processes, including corrective feedback, and their products, in new and exciting ways. However, the high variability of the evidence calls for more theoretical and methodological rigor, and the proliferation of hybrid and online learning curricula makes it imperative to assess SCMC’s contributions on the basis of sound comparisons with mirror FTF conditions. Against this backdrop, this chapter critically synthesizes forty-one studies comparing the effects of written SCMC versus FTF interaction on L2 development, filtering contradictory findings through the sieve of methodological validity and the often-neglected notion of modality. Results suggest that written SCMC amplifies feedback effectiveness in tutor–learner interactions but not so clearly in peer interactions; that it promotes lower output rates but more equal participation; that it elicits shorter utterances, but maybe more accurate and complex grammar and vocabulary; that it promotes less negotiation for meaning but maybe denser and more explicit negotiation of form; that it is more likely to subvert the negotiate-over-lexis-first principle; and that it yields less successful uptake and maybe less modified output but more self-corrections. The chapter concludes with future research recommendations based on the three dimensions of modality.

Classroom-based research concerned with corrective feedback plays a critical role in our understanding of how contextual factors shape teaching and learning, as well as our understanding of research. This chapter draws on descriptive and experimental studies investigating corrective feedback in the classroom to examine the role of context and the ways in which contextual factors have been considered, and at times neglected, in research. It highlights how both macro and micro dimensions of classroom contexts have had an impact on the ways in which researchers design, carry out, and interpret their work and teachers might draw on findings for classroom practice. Discussion explores how classrooms have and will continue to change, making a consideration of context imperative beyond a variable to be accounted for in research. The chapter suggests that the diversity of classroom contexts be leveraged to enrich the research

This chapter presents an overview of the research on peer feedback in L2 oral interaction. The chapter starts with types and characteristics of peer feedback, followed by the discussion of the theoretical underpinnings of peer feedback to explain the benefits of peer interaction in L2 development. The next section presents a review of the studies on peer feedback focusing on the effect of peer feedback on L2 development and factors affecting this type of feedback. The chapter concludes with some pedagogical implications and suggestions for future research on peer feedback in L2 oral interaction.

This chapter discusses the role of corrective feedback in mobile technology-mediated contexts. It begins by briefly discussing the role of technology in second language learning and teaching, focusing on mobile technology and explaining its affordances. It then examines the role that mobile-assisted language learning (MALL) can play in providing and monitoring corrective feedback in language learning. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the pedagogical implications as well as directions for future research on MALL-supported corrective feedback.

This chapter identifies the paucity of overlap between the role of task in corrective feedback (CF) studies, and the role of CF in task-based studies. It goes on to argue, however, that classroom task design and implementation conditions can act effectively as facilitating conduits for CF without compromising the essentially implicit and incidental nature of task-based learning. The affordances of new pedagogies that use computer-mediated interaction are particularly useful in this regard, as are task implementation sequences in which CF is deployed at a post-task or pre-task stage.