Computer-Mediated Grammar Practice and its Effect on Different Language Tasks

When and to what extent one should teach grammar to language learners has been discussed extensively. Even though grammar continues to hold an important place in language teaching, there is still much controversy with regard to what works best. This article looks at the question of computer-mediated grammar teaching and its effect on language acquisition over time. In particular, it reports the results of a year-long empirical study of the effectiveness of extended online practice of L2 grammar on the overall development of the L2 in learners of German. The results of the study suggest that prolonged online grammar practice translated into higher scores on chapter exams. However, no effect was found with regard to written work or oral chats and we concluded that prolonged online grammar practice did not have an effect on the quality of open-ended tasks such as these over the course of a year. Implications for language learning are discussed, exploring possible explanations on the short-term effect of online grammar instruction and the apparent lack of cumulative effect on more open-ended tasks.