Task-based language teaching and the timing of written corrective feedback: The role of language aptitude and working memory

Abstract

Immediate written corrective feedback (CF) is increasingly popular in second language (L2) classrooms because it allows teachers to provide CF to students while they are writing (Aubrey & Shintani, 2021). However, this can increase cognitive load as students process CF while writing (Kellogg, 1996). Research indicates that working memory's role varies with different types of CF (Li & Roshan, 2019). Grounded in Task-Based Language Teaching, which emphasizes meaningful communication and task engagement (Ellis, 2003), this study examined the influence of working memory and language aptitude on the effectiveness of immediate and delayed CF during collaborative writing tasks. Seventy-six university students learning French as an L2 participated in two collaborative writing tasks under three conditions, focusing on the French past tense. The first group received immediate written CF with metalinguistic comments during writing, the second received the same CF one week later, and the third, a task-only group, did not receive any CF. Furthermore, students individually wrote three texts as pretests, immediate posttests, and delayed posttests, and completed the LLAMA F test for language aptitude and a backwards digit span task for working memory. Results indicated that working memory predicted posttest performance only for the immediate CF group. For the delayed CF group, higher language aptitude negatively predicted posttest performance.