Impact of the Neurolinguistic Approach on English Language Learners’ Implicit and Explicit Knowledge of English Articles (مقاله علمی وزارت علوم)

چکیده

The neurolinguistic approach (NLA) nests the claim that both internal and external grammars (i.e., implicit and explicit grammar knowledge) develop through an intensive orality-based pedagogy. The present study put this claim to the test focusing on Iranian English language learners’ development of implicit and explicit knowledge of definite and indefinite English articles (EAs). Forty-three Iranian English language learners constituting 2 intact lower-intermediate classes were randomly assigned to a control group (CG; N = 20) and an experimental group (EG; N = 23). EG underwent four 1.5-hr project-based sessions of NLA-based instruction on definite and indefinite EAs. Each session began and ended with authentic oral practice of the structure under study. There was (a) a paragraph reading phase followed by rule induction and (b) a writing phase in between the two oral practice phases. CG was presented with reading texts (amply instantiating EAs), rule explanation, and communicative tasks. A timed grammaticality judgment test and an EA-focused oral proficiency interview were employed to estimate the participants’ implicit knowledge, and an untimed grammaticality judgment test and a metalinguistic knowledge test were deployed to measure their explicit knowledge. ANOVA results showed (a) EG’s development of implicit and explicit knowledge of EAs, but CG’s development of only explicit knowledge of EAs, and (b) EG’s significantly greater gain in both knowledge types. The findings reveal NLA’s potential for the development of both types of knowledge concerning definite and indefinite EAs, and have implications for the intensive instruction of knotty structures for low proficiency L2 learners.