Direct and indirect metalinguistic feedback: A matter of suitability rather than superiority

The questions of how and what type of written corrective feedback (WCF) should be provided to L2 students have received much attention in the field of second language acquisition (SLA). This study examined and compared the effectiveness of two types of WCF: direct feedback and indirect metalinguistic feedback. Two intact English as a foreign language (EFL) classes participated in the study. Each class wrote four essays and was provided with WCF on their written errors, with one class receiving direct feedback and the other receiving indirect metalinguistic feedback. The grammatical target was accuracy in the use of English articles. The result showed no significant difference between the two groups, overall. However, the analysis of the specific functions of articles revealed an advantage for the direct feedback over the indirect feedback. Thus, this study suggests that direct feedback may be more effective than indirect feedback with respect to certain functions of the English articles.