A theoretical and empirical study of the relationship between the effectiveness of explicit instruction and learners' metalinguistic competence

2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 17K13514
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Foreign language education
• Research Institution: Chukyo University (2020-2022); Kanazawa Gakuin University (2017-2019)
• Principal Investigator: Otaki Koichi 中京大学, 国際学部, 准教授 (50616042)
• Project Period (FY): 2017-04-01 – 2023-03-31
• Keywords: 明示的指導 / メタ言語能力 / 否定証拠

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This study investigated the correlation between explicit instruction and learners’ metalinguistic competence, with a specific focus on four grammatical phenomena that are recognized as challenging to acquire without explicit instruction: subject prominence, illicit object omission, overgeneration of indirect passives, and overgeneration of be verbs. The experimental design adopted a comparative analysis of performance between the groups receiving explicit and implicit instruction. The findings demonstrated the efficacy of explicit instruction in all examined grammatical domains. Conversely, no significant association was observed between metalinguistic competence and the impact of explicit instruction. While these outcomes affirm the effectiveness of explicit instruction, they also underscore the necessity for further research to ascertain the potential influence of learners’ metalinguistic competence on the effectiveness of explicit instruction.

Free Research Field

外国語教育

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究では，通常明示的指導を通して学習者に与えられると考えられる「否定証拠」がないと獲得が困難であると考えられる文法項目に焦点を当て，学習者が当該文法知識を獲得するためには，肯定証拠を与え続けるといった暗示的指導は指導効果が低く，明示的指導の方が効果的であることを明らかにした。この成果は，文法事項を明示的に教えることを軽視する現在の英語教育が誤った方向に進んでおり，修正の必要があることを示唆するものである。