This chapter considers the role corrective feedback plays in second language vocabulary acquisition. The first half of the chapter considers the effects of oral corrective feedback. We first provide a classification of oral corrective feedback, and then discuss findings from existing descriptive and experimental studies, followed by pedagogical implications of the findings. Past studies have suggested that vocabulary tends to benefit more from oral corrective feedback than grammar or morphosyntax, possibly due to the high degree of noticeability and less complex abstract nature of vocabulary. The latter half of the chapter discusses the effects of written corrective feedback. After providing a classification of written corrective feedback, we present two major research frameworks: feedback-for-accuracy and feedback-for-acquisition. The chapter then presents results of experimental studies, followed by pedagogical implications of the findings. Existing studies have suggested that written corrective feedback may lead to more appropriate use of vocabulary in subsequent revisions; however, it is not yet clear whether these positive effects can be carried over to a new piece of writing. The chapter concludes with suggestions for further research and calls for more research comparing the effects of different types of corrective feedback, both oral and written, on vocabulary learning.

Chapter 6 addresses two ways in which our minds can be constructive: either by making inferences on the basis of what’s already there – filling in gaps of information, or by transforming what’s there into something new. This twofold ability of the human mind to construct is basic to our existence, enabling us to go beyond what we encounter around us. The way we talk reflects both inference and transformation processes systematically. Inference involves taking observable facts and combining them with further knowledge or assumptions, in order to come to new insights or conclusions that aren’t directly observable. Transformation, on the other hand, involves taking observable facts or objects and turning them into something different, something that isn’t yet there but that can be accomplished using available tools and operators. Chapter 6 looks at each of these processes of cognitive constructiveness in turn.