Croatian Gfl Learners: On the Role of Depth of Processing under Explicit and Implicit Instructions While Processing Verbs That (Can)Not Be Used in the Passive Voice

The present study aimed to examine 92 Croatian learners of German as a foreign language in regard to depth of processing under explicit and implicit instruction when being exposed to a complex grammar form, German verbs that (can)not be used in the passive voice. Depth of processing was measured by employing offline think-aloud protocols. The experiment followed a pre-, immediate post-, and delayed test design with 2 months between tests consisting each of two grammatical interpretation tasks and a controlled transformation task. Overall, results showed that participants in the explicit condition showed deeper instances of processing correlating with better immediate and delayed test results. These results led to pedagogical implications to be considered for the GFL classroom context concerning complex grammatical structures.