| Corrective feedback (CF) has become a heated topic in the field of second language acquisition (SLA). Numerous studies have been tested, but no consensus has been made. This empirical study aimed to explore the effects of teacher written CF on the learning of English negative prefixes by high school students. This paper examined whether two different teacher written CF, direct CF, direct CF and meta-linguistic CF have a positive role on the learning of English negative prefixes. This paper would address two questions below:1. Can teacher written CF---direct CF, direct CF and meta-linguistic CF---have effect on the learning of English negative prefixes? Do written CF types exert different effects? Are the effects statistically significant?2. Do written CF types exert different rentention effects? And to what extent are they different? Are the effects statistically significant?This experiment lasted 11 weeks.53 students in an intact class from Hunan Dizhi High School participated in this experiment. They were randomly divided into three groups according to the order of their number. Group one and group two were experimental groups and group three was control group. Group one (N=18) received meta-linguistic CF, group two (N=18) received direct CF and group three (N=17) received no feedback or any meta-linguistic explanation. During the experiment, all these three groups finished three tests---pretest, immediate post-test and delayed post-test. All the scores were recorded to analysis. Students in group one and group two received two treatments on English negative prefixes in two weeks after the pretest.The scores of these three tests were computed and evaluated objectively, and were analyzed by SPSS which is shortened for the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences, in the version of 19.0. They were analyzed in quantitative and qualitative way by means of One-way ANOVA and Multiple Comparison. The results were showed as follows:1) The data from the pretest showed that there was no significant difference among the participants' mastery of the English negative prefixes in the three groups (F=0.81, P=0.923>0.05). After two treatments, group one and group two had made improvement in which group one benefited more than group two. However, control group had made no significant improvement.2) In the delayed post-test, students in group one who received meta-linguistic CF exceeded those in group two who only received direct CF and those in control group. The effects were retained in a great measure after 2 months. And group two receiving direct CF also made improvement in the delayed post-test so the effects sustained 2 months later. Nevertheless, the scores of the control group did not make any significance in the delayed post-test.The findings displayed in this paper could have some pedagogical implications:First, for the improvement of the students' acquisition of word, teachers should provide written meta-linguistic explanation to learners for the internalization of the students' knowledge on word. Furthermore, teachers should carry out various teaching activities to offer more comprehensive, precise and detailed information to facilitate the students' grammar learning. And teachers should create opportunities for students to revise and practice so students can consolidate knowledge on English negative prefixes, then internalize them. |
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