The interplay between planning conditions, direct focused feedback, and individual differences in EFL learners’ second language development

Abstract

This study examines whether different planning conditions after the provision of written corrective feedback have differential effects on the development of second language writing accuracy. It also explores whether learners’ cognitive and affective individual difference factors—executive working memory (EWM), phonological short-term memory (PSTM), and L2 writing anxiety—have differential associations with the effectiveness of planning types. Fifty-eight high school EFL learners in South Korea participated in the study. They were randomly assigned to three groups, namely pre-task planning (n = 18), within-task planning (n = 21), and no planning (n = 19). All participants completed a narrative writing task and received direct correction on their errors in using English articles and past tense forms. Treatment effects were measured by calculating the percentage of the correct use of the target linguistic items in the pretest, immediate posttest, and delayed posttest. EWM was measured by using an operation span test, PSTM was assessed by a digit-span test, and L2 writing anxiety was gauged through the Second Language Writing Apprehension Inventory. The results revealed no differences between treatment types for the learning of English articles; however, for the past tense, pre-task planning had an advantage over other planning conditions in enhancing the effects of corrective feedback. Regarding individual difference factors, EWM was the only significant predictor in all learning conditions for article use. For the past tense, EWM was more strongly correlated with the effects of corrective feedback in within-task planning than other planning types; PSTM was significantly associated with all treatment conditions; L2 writing anxiety played a positive role in pre-task planning but a negative role in within-task planning.