On Iranian EFL learners’ Retention of Grammar through Provision of Explicit and Implicit Corrective Feedback in Virtual and Physical Contexts

This quasi-experimental study intended to examine the long-term effect of different types of corrective feedback (explicit vs. implicit) in different types of contexts (physical vs. virtual). 80 lower-Intermediate Iranian EFL learners studying in Science and Technology University in Tehran were selected based on the results of Quick Placement Test. Using match-paired design, the participants were divided into four equal groups (explicit physical, implicit physical, explicit virtual and implicit virtual). A topic was chosen from the TOEFL IBT (2006). It was used for pretest and delayed posttest which was conducted two weeks after providing the required feedback to the groups. Descriptive statistics and inferential statistics were presented. The results of one-way ANOVA conducted for the pretest showed that the four groups were homogeneous. The results of ANOVA for delayed posttest showed that two weeks after providing feedback to each group, the students performed differently. According to the results of Scheffe post hoc test, the explicit group outperformed implicit group in the retention of grammatical forms in both physical and virtual context