Working Memory effects on Feedback Noticing

This study examined the role of working memory (WM) in the effectiveness of recasts and four types of prompts on the noticing of the English resumptive pronoun errors in spoken language. A hundred and twenty-four pre-intermediate EFL students were randomly assigned to five experimental groups (i.e. recast, clarification request, repetition, elicitation, and metalinguistic feedback), and a control group, and carried out a first-language WM operation span task. Noticing was assessed by learners’ modified output in response to feedback (measured by proportional scores). Participants engaged in two interactive tasks in dyads with the researcher, and were required to answer questions designed to elicit the target structure. Results indicated that prompts induced more noticing than recasts. WM was also found to mediate the effectiveness of feedback on noticing of the target form. Regression results revealed that WM was a strong predictor of prompts, particularly metalinguistic feedback and repetition. Findings of this study provide pedagogical implications on the effectiveness of feedback in L2 classes and how it is mediated by learners’ WM.