Department of Second Language Studies

My research is primarily motivated by theoretical and empirical issues in instructed second language acquisition, but it also relies on research carried out in the broader field of second language acquisition, as well as in other related disciplines such as cognitive psychology, linguistics, psychometrics, and computer-assisted language learning. Within instructed SLA, my work examines the relative effects of different types of instruction (or learning conditions) on L2 development, as well as the role of contextual (i.e., learner-external) and individual difference (i.e., learner-internal) factors that may moderate such effects.

Two broad questions that have guided my research program so far are the following: 1) What type of instruction is most effective? 2) Which a) contextual, b) psycholinguistic, and c) cognitive individual difference factors (e.g., language aptitude) moderate the effectiveness of instruction?

I also direct the Instructed Second Language Acquisition Lab. Research in this lab focuses on the investigation of factors affecting second language acquisition that takes place in instructed contexts.

• Second language instruction
• Negative feedback
• Computer-mediated communication and instruction
• Task-based language teaching
• Individual differences in second language acquisition
• Explicit and implicit learning processes

• Granena, G., Jackson, D. O., & Yilmaz, Y. (2016). Cognitive individual differences in second language processing and acquisition. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company.

• Canals, L., Granena, G., Yilmaz, Y., & Malicka, A. (2020). Second language learners' and teachers' perceptions of delayed immediate corrective feedback in an asynchronous online setting: An exploratory study. TESL Canada Journal, 37(2), 181–209.

• Granena, G., & Yilmaz, Y. (2019a). Corrective feedback and the role of implicit sequence learning ability in L2 online performance. Language Learning, 69, 127-156.
• Granena, G., & Yilmaz, Y. (2019b). Phonological short-term memory capacity and L2 oral performance. Journal of Second Language Studies, 2, 317–335.
• Yilmaz, Y., & Sagdic, A. (2019). The interaction between inhibitory control and corrective feedback timing. International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 170, 204-227. 
• Yilmaz, Y., & Granena, G. (2019). Cognitive individual differences as predictors of improvement and awareness under implicit and explicit feedback conditions. Modern Language Journal, 103, 686-702.
• Granena, G., & Yilmaz, Y. (2018). Aptitude-treatment interaction in L2 learning: A research synthesis. Studies in English Education, 4, 803-830.
• Arroyo, D., & Yilmaz, Y. (2018). An open for replication study: The role of feedback timing in synchronous computer-mediated communication. Language Learning, 68, 942-972.
• Yilmaz, Y. (2016a). The effectiveness of explicit correction under two different feedback exposure conditions. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 38, 65-96.
• Yilmaz, Y. (2016b). The linguistic environment, interaction and negative feedback. Brill Research Perspectives in Multilingualism and Second Language Acquisition, 1, 45-86.
• Yilmaz, Y., & Granena, G. (2016). The role of cognitive aptitudes for explicit language learning in the relative effects of explicit and implicit feedback. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 19, 147-161.  
• Yilmaz, Y. (2013a). Relative effects of explicit and implicit feedback: The role of working memory capacity and language analytic ability. Applied Linguistics, 34, 344-368.
• Yilmaz, Y. (2013b). The relative effectiveness of mixed, explicit and implicit feedback. System, 41, 691-705.
• Yilmaz, Y. (2012). The relative effects of explicit correction and recasts on two target structures via two communication modes. Language Learning, 62, 1134–1169.
• Yilmaz, Y. (2011). Task effects on focus on form in synchronous computer-mediated communication. Modern Language Journal, 95, 115-132.