THE DELAYED EFFECTS OF FOCUSED AND UNFOCUSED WRITTEN CORRECTIVE FEEDBACK ON USE OF FUTURE PERFECT TENSE BY IRANIAN EFL LEARNERS

The role of (written) corrective feedback (CF) in the process of acquiring a second language (L2) has been an issue of considerable debate among theorists and researchers alike. Although CF is a widely applied pedagogical tool and its use finds support in SLA theory, practical and theoretical objections to its usefulness have been raised. The study presented here using a pre-test-immediate post-test-delayed post-test design contrasted the effectiveness of focused CF, unfocused CF and a control group (no CF) on the use of future perfect tense. The participants were selected through Quick Placement Test (QPT) from Kish Institute in Tehran, Iran. They then were divided into three groups (two experimental groups and one control group), 20 learners in each group. One experimental group received focused written corrective feedback and the other experimental group received unfocused written corrective feedback. Analysis of the obtained data through ANCOVA revealed that both the focused CF and unfocused CF groups significantly outperformed the control group in both posttest and delayed posttest. However, as focused group did better than unfocused group, it seems that focused CF benefits EFL learners more in learning future perfect tense than unfocused CF does.