University of Isfahan Applied Research on English Language 3134-0644 14 4 2025 11 01 Instructing Phrasal Verbs through Implicit and Explicit Approaches: Evidence from Eye-Tracking and Reaction Time 179 210 29972 10.22108/are.2025.146495.2605 EN Mohammad Hassanzadeh Languages and Linguistics Center, Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran Mohammad Javad Faraji Languages and Linguistics Center, Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran Saeed Rezaei Languages and Linguistics Center, Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran Journal Article 2025 08 29 Native speakers of English use phrasal verbs (PhVs) profusely in daily life. Pedagogically, however, these elements pose formidable challenges for second/foreign language (L2) learners across the board. The issue is exacerbated by the arbitrariness of approaches prescribed by instructional materials. The current study aimed at comparing the pedagogical impacts of explicit versus implicit approaches to teaching PhVs, drawing on the PPP (Present, Practice, Production) model as an explicit framework and the TBI (task-based instruction) as an implicit one. In so doing, 62 university undergraduate students majoring in engineering courses from three distinct classes at Sharif University of Technology were recruited. Each class was randomly assigned to a condition: explicit (PPP), implicit (TBI), and control. The treatments were carried out over five 50-minute sessions for the experimental conditions. To acquire further objectivity on the impact of instructional conditions, more data were culled using the online methods of eye-tracking and reaction time. In the eye-tracking experiment, seven eye-movement metrics were measured by a desk-mounted eye-tracker. Following that, the learners' reaction time (RT) behavior was gauged in terms of three metrics. The offline findings – administered at three intervals – revealed that explicit and implicit groups outperformed the control group on the immediate and the first delayed posttests. However, the explicit framework proved longer lasting. Regarding the online measures, no difference was discerned between the two experimental conditions. The aggregate evidence suggests that a hybrid perspective drawing on a mix of explicit and implicit tasks can be a propitious approach to PhVs’ pedagogy.

https://are.ui.ac.ir/article_29972_291ea6d811aea51fbe3b165fce8bdace.pdf