Case studies on explicit versus implicit language teaching

Studies that have shown explicit rather than implicit instruction to better draw learners‘ attention to linguistic rules, leading to increased performance, include those by Alanen (1995), De Graaff (1997), Robinson (1997), Harley (1998) and Rosa and O‘Neill (1999). Conversely, studies showing implicit instruction to be a fairly insufficient catalyst for interlanguage alterations, include those by Ellis (1993), who specifically refers to the increased time required if implicit instruction is to be effective, Jourdenais (1998), White (1998) and Izumi (2002). Based on the findings of the above studies, as well as his own, Radwan (2005:72) considers the learning of grammar a vital part of learning an L2.

In an article on the value of teaching grammar and the manner in which this is best done, Ellis (2006:85-86) makes reference to research that has shown grammar teaching to increase both acquired and learned knowledge, as well as to research that has shown naturalistic learning, such as that generally found in the classic CLT classroom, to typically fail in increasing grammatical competence.13 Based on her practical experience

13

(Ellis 2006) addresses questions such as which aspects of grammar should be taught, when they should be taught, whether the information should be massed or distributed and intensive or extensive, whether there is any value in teaching explicit grammatical knowledge, whether there is a best way to teach grammar in order to promote implicit knowledge and whether grammars should be taught in separate

59 as an English teacher in Tanzania, Qorro (in Brock-Utne 2005:180-181) also argues strongly against attempts at providing learners with English proficiency simply by using it as medium of instruction in content subject classes. Instead, she suggests the improved teaching of English as a subject in its own right.

In a study of the relationship between implicit and explicit knowledge measures and general language proficiency measures, focusing specifically on learners‘ knowledge of verb complementation in English, Han and Ellis (1998:18-19) found their results supportive of earlier research showing metalinguistic knowledge, as a subset of explicit knowledge, of little value in promoting general language proficiency. They also found, however, a high likelihood for analysed knowledge, i.e. the other subset of explicit knowledge, to play a valuable role in promoting general language proficiency (Han and Ellis 1998:19). On grounds of these findings, it seems that learners might benefit more from explicit language teaching that promotes the development of analysed knowledge than metalanguage alone (Han and Ellis 1998:19).

In his study of the effects of different implicit and explicit attention-drawing instructional conditions on learners‘ acquisition of dative alternation in English, Radwan (2005:69, 82- 83) found explicit instruction to lead to enhanced linguistic performance, whilst increased levels of awareness at the level of understanding, i.e. not noticing alone, coincided with increased levels of language development.14 This focus on understanding the structural rules of an L2, be it conscious or subconscious, relates to Han and Ellis‘s (1998) earlier findings regarding the value of analysed knowledge.

lessons or integrated into communicative activities. Whilst these topics will be relevant in deciding how the findings of the current study may be applied, they will not be addressed within the limited scope of this thesis. Worth mentioning here, however, is the fact that Ellis (2006:102) advocates for the identification of those grammatical features that prove problematic for students and focusing on these, rather than the entire scope of grammatical features of the L2. This, then, coincides with the primary aim of the current study.

14

(Radwan 2005) provides an in-depth investigation of the role of degree of explicitness in various instructional conditions. Due to the limited scope of this thesis, this is not a factor that will be considered here.

60 In a study attempting to gauge the effectiveness of the South African EAL syllabus in terms of promoting the acquisition of interrogative structures, Ollerhead and Oosthuizen (2005:60, 70) did a comparison between three groups of grade 5 isiXhosa-speaking L2 learners of English. Two of the groups received nine hours of intensive training in question formation over a three-week period, whilst the third group served as a control group, receiving no specific instruction on interrogatives, but continuing with the usual syllabus (Ollerhead and Oosthuizen 2005:71).

The first two groups received different types of instruction. The first, henceforth the ―focus-on-meaning group‖, received instruction based on English Matters (Montgomery and Ollerhead 2003), a South African grade 5 EAL textbook employing a meaning- focused, implicit approach. Over the course of the three weeks, one theme based on a story in this book was addressed, the different activities including comprehension questions, oral group discussions and a letter writing exercise (Ollerhead and Oosthuizen 2005:72). As the textbook does not provide an explanation of the rules of question formation in English, the acquisition of forms would have been incidental (Ollerhead and Oosthuizen 2005:72). Additionally, no corrective feedback was supplied (Ollerhead and Oosthuizen 2005:73).

The second group, henceforth the ―focus-on-form group‖, received instruction based on Explore English (Ollerhead and Njoroge-Gachuhi, in press), a Kenyan grade 5 English L2 textbook employing a form-focused, reasonably explicit approach. This textbook emphasises both form and function by providing ample practice of question structures, whilst engaging learners in meaningful texts (Ollerhead and Oosthuizen 2005:73). The textbook was supplemented by the teacher‘s explicit explanation on the whiteboard of the different parts of interrogative structures and the movement they undergo, and by corrective feedback (Ollerhead and Oosthuizen 2005:73).

61 Pre- and post-tests revealed both the focus-on-meaning and focus-on-form groups to outperform the control group, despite the latter having had exposure to various interrogative structures as they occur naturally in the classroom context (Ollerhead and Oosthuizen 2005:80). Of the two instructed groups, the focus-on-form group fared best, specifically in the task that required participants to focus on all aspects of interrogative structures across a number of tenses (Ollerhead and Oosthuizen 2005:81). The researchers attribute this success to the fact that the focus-on-form textbook draws learners‘ attention to the L2 forms, without compromising on context, whilst teachers offer negative evidence by pointing out errors (Ollerhead and Oosthuizen 2005:81). Their recommendations are that the South African EAL syllabus be revised to incorporate more form-focused instruction and guidelines for teachers on the value of negative feedback (Ollerhead and Oosthuizen 2005:82).

Inspired by the findings of the studies cited above, the current project is based on the premise that explicit instruction is indeed valuable and necessary in South African EAL classrooms — hence the identification of features that have been shown to remain problematic in the L2 English usage of L1 isiXhosa speakers, even at a near-native level of L2 proficiency. It is hypothesised that learners‘ acquisition of these features might prove more successful if they are instructed on the relevant grammatical features in a more explicit manner than is currently employed in EAL classrooms. The next chapter will set out the exact manner in which these problematic features were identified as part of the current study.

62 CHAPTER 4

Methodology

In this chapter, an overview of the participant selection procedure is provided in Section 4.1, detailing the use of a language background questionnaire in Section 4.1.1 and an L2 English proficiency test in Section 4.1.2. Section 4.2 provides a detailed description of the participants who qualified for the study on grounds of their responses to the aforementioned two instruments. Lastly, Section 4.3 reports on the data collection instruments employed after the final selection of participants was made, namely a semi- structured interview with the researcher, followed by a GJT.