The Effect of FCF and UCF on Iranian Intermediate Learners' Speaking Skill
It has been contended by FLA and SLA researchers that corrective feedback (CF) is
crucial for L2 acquisition. This article investigated whether focused CF (FCF) and unfocused
(UCF) produced differential effects on the EFL learners' speaking skill. Using 80 adult EFL
intermediate learners, two groups were formed: Focused CF (FCF, n = 40) and Unfocused CF
(UCF, n = 40) both as experimental groups. A series of ANOVAs with statistical comparison
indicated that both groups gained speaking proficiency in the posttests. This suggested that
giving and receiving CF is of value by itself. The FCF group had outperformed the UCF
group in both general proficiency and speaking skill. Overall, these results suggested that
UCF is of limited pedagogical value whereas FCF can contribute to general proficiency and
also speaking proficiency.
Key words: Corrective Feedback (CF), Focused Corrective Feedback (FCF),
Unfocused Corrective Feedback (UCF), Speaking Skill