The Impact of Explicit Instruction and Metalinguistic Awareness on Cross-linguistic Interference: Path Framing in Motion Events

Year 2017, Volume: 16 Issue: 4, 1119 - 1133, 07.11.2017

Abdurrahman Kilimci

https://doi.org/10.21547/jss.336882

Abstract

The study aimed to investigate the influence of the
cross-linguistic variation on the construction of boundary-crossing motion
events in the translation production of the Turkish speakers of L2 English and
measure the impact of explicit instruction and metalinguistic awareness on the learners’
understanding of typological differences and hence their development of L2 ways
of expressing motion events. To this aim, the study followed a pre-test
post-test quasi-experimental research design, involving a treatment and a
control group. A total of 46 second-year university students participated in
the study. They were all majoring in English at the English Language Teaching
Department, at a state university in Turkey. The control (18 females and 5
males) and the treatment group (15 females and 8 males) received a two-week
instructional treatment, the first group receiving an implicit instruction, and
the second an explicit instruction of the boundary-crossing motion event
constructions. Prior to the instructional intervention, a pre-test was
administered to the participants. Mann-Whitney U test run on the mean
scores obtained from the pre-tests indicated no significant differences between
the control and the treatment group, U = 282.5, z = .416, p = .678. Within-group analysis based on
post-test results after the termination of the instructional treatment revealed
that while the implicit instruction had no effect on learners’ acquisition of motion
events, z = 1.842, p = .066., the explicit instruction had a significant
effect on L1 Turkish learners’ development of their knowledge of L2-like
English patterns in construing motion events. Similarly, between-group analysis
revealed that the treatment group (Mdn = 4.00), who received an explicit
instruction significantly outperformed the control group (Mdn = 2.00), who
received implicit instruction, U = 410.5, z = 3.257, p = .001. The study concluded
with the implications of findings for English language teaching and suggestions
for future studies.

Keywords

Key words: boundary-crossing, motion events, explicit instruction, implicit instruction

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