Grammar Consciousness-Raising Instruction in L2 English: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Abstract

Grammar consciousness-raising (CR) asks learners to examine linguistic data, detect patterns, and formulate or test explicit generalizations rather than receiving rules only through teacher explanation. Although CR has been investigated across diverse English-as-a-second- or foreign-language settings, its effects have not previously been isolated in a focused quantitative synthesis. This study aims to assess the effectiveness of grammar CR for improving L2 English learners' grammar performance. A systematic review and meta-analysis were conducted, drawing on 22 empirical studies involving 1,473 learners, identified through database searching (Academic Search Ultimate, Education Source, ERIC, ProQuest, Web of Science Core Collection, Wiley Online Library, and ScienceDirect), a manual literature search, and forward citation searching, from database inception to 7 August 2026. Eligible studies compared a grammar-CR treatment against a non-CR comparison condition for L2 English learners and reported sufficient quantitative evidence for a grammar-related outcome. The primary synthesis pooled the 20 of these studies that reported post-test scores (1,317 learners); grammar CR had a large overall effect on learners' grammar performance relative to comparison instruction (Hedges' g = 0.99, 95% CI [0.78, 1.20]). Including two further eligible studies that reported gain scores rather than post-test scores did not change this conclusion (k = 22, g = 1.03, 95% CI [0.81, 1.25]). Exploratory subgroup analysis suggested a smaller, more consistent effect in Iranian settings (g = 0.86) than in other settings (g = 1.10), although region was confounded with study design and target feature. These findings suggest that grammar CR is an effective approach for developing controlled, form-focused grammar performance, although evidence for durable transfer to spontaneous communication remains limited.