Investigating the Effects of Three Types of Corrective Feedback on the Acquisition of English Wh-question Forms by Iranian EFL Learners

Abstract

The current research examines the immediate and delayed effects of three types of corrective feedback, namely recasts, metalinguistic feedback, and clarification requests, on the acquisition of English wh-question forms by Iranian EFL learners. To this end, 134 Iranian EFL learners comprising 4 intact classes participated in the study. Learners in 3 intact classes which were designated as feedback groups received feedback during a meaning-focused task, while learners in the control group received no feedback. The results of data analysis revealed the effectiveness of metalinguistic feedback and recasts in both immediate and delayed post-tests. Further inspection of the results revealed that while metalinguistic feedback was more effective than recasts in the immediate post-test, recasts had a more stable and enduring effect, compared with metalinguistic feedback, on learners' performance in the delayed post-test.