ORAL CORRECTIVE FEEDBACK IN ENGLISH LESSONS

Abstract

 Oral corrective feedback is understood as an essential component in the foreign language classrooms and how teachers do it can impact students’ learning in different ways. This is why it is emphasized the importance of varying the types of feedback offered, reformulations and prompts, favoring the latter, as they help learners assume responsibility for correcting their own errors. The aim of this study is to investigate how a teacher of English as a foreign language provides oral corrective feedback, and examine the extent to which her participation in a collaborative action research would contribute to a re-examination of her pedagogical practices during oral activities. The study engaged a teacher, from a public school, in a collaborative action research, during a school semester. Data were generated by means of two semi-structured interviews, classroom observations, audio and video recording of the twelve observed lessons. Analysis of data indicated that a number of the teacher’s ideas and pedagogical practices about oral error correction shifted throughout the semester. The results showed that prior to the research, the teacher predominantly used reformulations, especially recast, and advocated against the provision of oral corrective feedback. Furthermore, she provided only three of the various feedback types. After participating in the action research, the teacher’s comments and pedagogical practices revealed a more sophisticated understanding of oral corrective feedback, as well as an appreciation for the relationship between learning and oral corrective feedback.