Instructional Configurations of Contrastiveness, Practice Type, and Guided Induction for L2 Article Learning

This study investigates how instruction involving different configurations of explicit information (EI) on contrastiveness (the presence or absence of L1–L2 similarities and differences), practice type, and guided induction (GI) may shape L2 English article learning ( a/an , the , Ø). During an 8-week online intervention, Japanese learners of English as a foreign language ( N = 219) received training under one of four instructional conditions: (1) non-contrastive instruction (rule-based L2–EI + L2-only practice), (2) contrastive instruction (contrastive EI + dual-language practice), (3) contrastive instruction with GI (learner-guided inference from contrastive examples), and (4) an active control receiving matched non-contrastive instruction on prepositions. The primary outcome measure was a timed online grammaticality judgement and correction task (GJCT), administered at pre-test, immediate post-test, and delayed post-test intervals. Mixed-effects modelling showed that all experimental groups outperformed the control, with the contrastive conditions yielding somewhat more favourable outcomes, although the differences among the article-focused conditions remained limited in magnitude. In-treatment performance was also positively, albeit weakly, associated with subsequent GJCT scores. These findings suggest how instructional designs informed by cross-linguistic differences may facilitate L2 article learning in contexts where the L1 lacks an article system.