Views: 2,155
Arab World English Journal (AWEJ) Volume 16. Number 2, June 2025 Pp.96-115
English Language Institute, University of Jeddah
Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
While beneficiary satisfaction is getting significant traction in academic discourse, learners’ voices in EFL classrooms remain largely overlooked, highlighting a critical gap in second-language education. Explicit and implicit grammar instruction research, for example, is mainly informed and shaped by reductionist performance-based queries or teachers’ reflections on past practices, all while leaving a critical element, the learner, behind. The current study aims to address this gap by exploring the lived experiences of Saudi EFL learners attending a Saudi University (i.e., the University of Jeddah) after being exposed to three different modes of grammar instruction: explicit, implicit, and differentiated, for three weeks, twice a week, in sixty-minute sessions. After the sessions, five students from each instructional group (a total of 15) were randomly selected for comprehensive interviews, during which the study’s main constructs (e.g., explicit and implicit distinctions) were introduced in simplified and relevant terms. The results suggest that differentiated instruction was perceived as the most effective form of teaching (as it was associated with interesting themes like guided autonomy and useful learner-condition or form-condition interactions), followed by implicit instruction (with themes like self-regulated autonomy, authenticity, and involvement standing out) and, finally, explicit instruction (the effectiveness of which is mainly controlled by form-complexity). These results have some important implications for the field of second language teaching.
: AlAmir, B. A. (2025). “Teach It, and Then Set Me Free”: Saudi EFL Learners’ Voice and Choice in Grammar Pedagogies. Arab World English Journal, 16(2): 96-115
Abduh, M. Y., & Algouzi, S. (2020). Revisiting Grammar Teaching in a Saudi EFL Context: Teachers’ Perceptions and Practices. Arab World English Journal, 11(4), 291-306. https://dx.doi.org/10.24093/awej/vol11no4.19
Alghanmi, B., & Shukri, N. (2016). The relationship between teachers’ beliefs of grammar instruction and classroom practices in the Saudi context. English Language Teaching, 9(7), 70-86. https://doi.org/10.5539/elt.v9n7p70
AlHashmi, B., & Elyas, T. (2018). Investigating the effect of differentiated instruction in light of the Ehrman & Leaver Construct on Grammar Learning. Arab World English Journal, 9(3), 145-162. https://dx.doi.org/10.24093/awej/vol9no3.10
Alsakaker, S. M. (2025). Effective Methods for Teaching English Grammar to University EFL Learners in Saudi Arabia: A Comparative Study of Inductive and Deductive Approaches. Arab World English Journal, 16(1), 298-308. https://dx.doi.org/10.24093/awej/vol16no1.18
Andringa, S., de Glopper, K. & Hacquebord, H. (2011). Effect of explicit and implicit instruction on free written response task performance. Language Learning, 61(3), 868-903. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9922.2010.00623.x.
Ary, D., Jacobs, L. C. & Sorensen, C. K. (2010). Introduction to Research in Education (8th ed.). USA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.
Başöz, T. (2014). Through the eyes of prospective teachers of English: Explicit or implicit grammar instruction?. Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences, 158, 377-382. https://doi.org/10.1191/1478088706qp063oa
Braun, V. & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77-101. https://doi.org/10.1191/1478088706qp063oa
Brown, H. D. (2006). Principles of Language Learning and Teaching (5th ed.). USA: Pearson Education ESL.
Cornillie, F., Clarebout, G., & Desmet, P. (2012). Between learning and playing? Exploring learners’ perceptions of corrective feedback in an immersive game for English pragmatics. ReCALL, 24(3), 257–278. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0958344012000146
Doughty, C. (1991). Second Language Instruction Does Make a Difference: Evidence from an Empirical Study of SL Relativization. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 13(4), 431–469. doi:10.1017/S0272263100010287
El-Dakhs, D.A.S., Yahya, N. & Pawlak, M. (2022). Investigating the impact of explicit and implicit instruction on the use of interactional metadiscourse markers. Asian-Pacific Journal of
Ellis, R. (2009). Implicit and explicit learning, knowledge, and instruction. In R. Ellis, S. Loewen, C.
Elder, H. Reinders, R. Erlam & J. Philp (eds.), Implicit and Explicit Knowledge in Second Language Learning, Testing and Teaching. Bristol, Buffalo, and Toronto: Multilingual Matters.
Erlam, R. (2005). Language aptitude and its relationship to instructional effectiveness in second language acquisition. Language Teaching Research, 9(2), 147-171. https://doi.org/10.1191/1362168805lr161oa
Fauth, B., Decristan, J., Rieser, S., Klieme, E., & Büttner, G. (2014). Student ratings of teaching quality in primary school: Dimensions and prediction of student outcomes. Learning and instruction, 29, 1-9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.learninstruc.2013.07.001
Ferguson, R. F. (2012). Can student surveys measure teaching quality? Phi Delta Kappan, 94(3), 24-28. DOI: 10.1177/003172171209400306.
Flick, U. (2018). An Introduction to Qualitative Research (6th ed.). USA: Sage Publications.
Gass, S. M., & Mackey, A. (2006). Input, interaction, and output: An overview. AILA Review, 19(1), 3-17. https://doi.org/10.1075/aila.19.03gas
Green, T. D. & Flowers, J. H. (2003). Comparison of implicit and explicit learning processes in a probabilistic task. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 97(1), 299-314. https://doi.org/10.2466/pms.2003.97.1.299.
Herron, C. & Tomasello, M. (1992). Acquiring grammatical structures by guided induction. The French Review, 65(5), 708-718. http://www.jstor.org/stable/395311
Hulstijn, J. H. (2005) Theoretical and empirical issues in the study of implicit and explicit second-language learning: Introduction. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 27(2), 129-140. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0272263105050084
Hulstijn, J. H., & De Graaff, R. (1994). Under what conditions does explicit knowledge of a second language facilitate the acquisition of implicit knowledge? A research proposal. AILA review, 1, 97-112.
Joseph, S. (2013). Differentiating instruction: Experiences of pre-service and in-service trained teachers. Caribbean Curriculum, 20, 31-51.
Kember, D., Leung, D. Y., & Kwan, K. (2002). Does the use of student feedback questionnaires improve the overall quality of teaching?. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 27(5), 411-425. https://doi.org/10.1080/0260293022000009294
Khan, A. (2024). Transformative impacts of explicit morphological instruction on irregular inflectional acquisition in Saudi EFL learners. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 11(1), 1-12. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-024-03610-4
Lightbown, P. M. & Spada, N. (2013). How Languages Are Learned (4th Ed.). UK: Oxford University Pres.
MacIntyre, P. D., Clément, R., Dörnyei, Z., & Noels, K. A. (1998). Conceptualizing willingness to communicate in a L2: A situational model of L2 confidence and affiliation. Modern Language Journal, 82(4), 545-562. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4781.1998.tb05543.x
Norris, J. M. & Ortega, L. (2000). Effectiveness of L2 instruction: A research synthesis and quantitative meta-analysis. Language Learning, 50(3), 417-528. https://doi.org/10.1111/0023-8333.00136
Qari, I. A . (2021). The effect of explicit instruction of requests on Saudi EFL learners using a pre-test, post-test approach. Arab World English Journal, 12 (1) 113-127. DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.24093/awej/vol12no1.8
Robinson, P. (1996). Learning simple and complex second language rules under implicit, incidental, rule-search, and instructed conditions. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 18(1), 27-67. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0272263100014674
Sabir, M. (2018). Specificity and article use: a theoretically informed classroom intervention. Instructed Second Language Acquisition, 2(2). https://dx.doi.org/10.1558/isla.35617
Schreier, M. (2014). Ways of doing qualitative content analysis: Disentangling terms and terminologies. Qualitative Social Research, 15(1). https://doi.org/10.17169/fqs-15.1.2043Second and Foreign Language Education 7, 44 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40862-022-00175-0
Seidman, I. (2006). Interviewing as Qualitative Research: A Guide for Researchers in Education and the Social Sciences. New York and London: Teachers College Press, Columbia University.
Seldin, P. (1993). The use and abuse of student ratings of professors. The Chronicle of Higher Education, 39(46).
Sopin, G. (2015). Students’ Perceptions of Grammar Teaching and Learning in English Language Classrooms in Libya. IOSR Journal of Research & Method in Education, 5(2), 67-72.
Spada, N., & Tomita, Y. (2010). Interactions between type of instruction and type of language feature: A meta‐analysis. Language Learning, 60(2), 263-308. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9922.2010.00562.x
Spooren, P., Brockx, B., & Mortelmans, D. (2013). On the validity of student evaluation of teaching: The state of the art. Review of Educational Research, 83(4), 598-642. https://doi.org/10.3102/0034654313496
Subban, P. (2006). Differentiated instruction: A research basis. International Education Journal, 7(7), 935–947. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ854351.pdf
Tavakoli, M. & Zarrinabadi, N. (2018). Differential effects of explicit and implicit corrective feedback on EFL learners’ willingness to communicate. Innovation in Language Learning and Teaching, 12(3), 247–259. https://doi.org/10.1080/17501229.2016.1195391
Tomlinson, C. A. (2017). How to Differentiate Instruction in Academically Diverse Classrooms. ASCD.
Williamson, J. M. (2017). Teaching to Individual Differences in Science and Engineering Librarianship: Adapting Library Instruction to Learning Styles and Personality Characteristics. Netherlands: Chandos Publishing.
Dr. Bayan AlHashmi AlAmir is an assistant professor at the University of Jeddah. She holds a BA in Linguistics, an MA in TESOL, and a Ph.D in Language Education from the University of Leeds. She has ten years of experience teaching English as a Second Language to first-year university students. Her research interests revolve around the psychology of language learners, grammar pedagogies, and error analysis. ORCiD ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0461-5032