The Effect of Implicit Grammar Instruction on Oral Proficiency

Abstract

EFL grammar is usually taught explicitly in Dutch secondary schools. However, there are developments that point towards an increase in communicative methodologies of education. There is little research on the effects of explicit and implicit grammar education, which makes it debatable whether explicit grammar instruction has a better influence on oral production as opposed to implicit grammar instruction. An experiment was conducted in which the effects of explicit and implicit grammar education were examined. The subjects consisted of 239 Dutch learners of English (11-13 years old). The control group received explicit grammar instruction while the intervention group received implicit grammar instruction. The oral production (vocabulary, grammar, fluency and functional adequacy) of the two groups were measured using a narrative elicitation task. The results show that the intervention group outperformed the control group on vocabulary. The groups did not differ in grammar, fluency or functional adequacy. There were no differences between students of different levels of education.