Corrective feedback in historical perspective

1991 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 89-102 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacquelyn Schachter
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Experimental Work ◽  
Historical Perspective ◽  
Corrective Feedback ◽  
Negative Evidence ◽  
Positive Evidence

In this paper, pedagogical, linguistic theoretical, and psychological perspec tives on corrective feedback are discussed and an attempt is made to inte grate these different perspectives. To a large extent, researchers in these three approaches have been isolated from one another, each ignorant of the others' stands on the issues. Herein, we attempt to overcome the isolation, interweaving the similarities and pointing out the differences of the three approaches. It is argued that the answers to questions raised here and elsewhere concerning the role of corrective feedback in language learning will not come in the form of sweeping affirmative or negative generalizations. They will come from the careful teasing apart of the components of language and experimental work on these components. We need to ascertain whether some components can in fact be acquired on the basis of positive evidence alone, and whether negative evidence (feedback) is required for successful mastery of some other components.

scholarly journals Motivating Role of Assessment and Feedback in Teaching English to Students of Non-Linguistic Specialties

2021 ◽  
pp. 144-148
Author(s):  
Kseniya S. Potovskaya ◽  
Kseniya A. Sekret
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
English Learners ◽  
Corrective Feedback ◽  
Teaching Staff ◽  
Opinion Poll ◽  
State University ◽  
English Classes ◽  
Study Results ◽  
Feedback Strategies

This article presents a study of the motivating role of feedback and assessment in language learning. Within the framework of our research, we surveyed psychological peculiarities of students and their attitude to errors and learning process depending on the feedback strategy applied by the teacher. We also explored types and ways of expressing feedback as well as correction and assessment functions. In order to obtain students’ insights into the motivating role of feedback and to ascertain their preferences for correction, we conducted an opinion poll in a target group of English learners consisting of 150 1-st and 2-nd year students of the Sevastopol State University. The respondents answered based on their personal experience of communication with the teaching staff of the university. The survey showed that the feedback received in the learning environment during English classes strongly affects the level of students’ motivation, but at the same time the majority of students are not afraid of making mistakes as they consider them to be the main factor in their personal and professional development. The study results might help teachers to choose more effective corrective feedback strategies that work best for their students.

Roles of positive and indirect negative evidence in L2 feature reassembly

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Woramon Prawatmuang ◽  
Boping Yuan
Keyword(s):  
Native Speaker ◽  
The Other ◽  
Negative Evidence ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
Advanced Level ◽  
Positive Evidence ◽  
Feature Reassembly ◽  
Chinese Learners ◽  
Acceptability Judgment

Abstract This article reports an empirical study investigating L2 acquisition of the Mandarin Chinese collective marker -men by adult Thai-speaking learners and the Thai collective marker phûak- by adult Chinese-speaking learners within the framework of the Feature Reassembly Hypothesis (Lardiere, 2009a, 2009b). An acceptability judgment test was administered to learners with beginning, intermediate and advanced proficiencies of Chinese and Thai (n = 114) as well as native speaker controls (n = 30). The results reveal a facilitating role of positive evidence in L2 feature reassembly as Chinese learners who are exposed to positive evidence of “phûak + animal noun” and “phûak + indefinite noun” structures in their Thai input perform native-like on these structures from an intermediate level onward. On the other hand, feature reassembly is hindered when positive evidence is unavailable as in the case of Thai learners of Chinese where no evidence they receive in the input shows ungrammaticality of “animal noun + men” and “indefinite noun + men” structures in Chinese. These learners mostly fail to perform native-like even at an advanced level.

scholarly journals A multiple process solution to the logical problem of language acquisition

2004 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 883-914 ◽  
Author(s):  
BRIAN MACWHINNEY
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Universal Grammar ◽  
Corrective Feedback ◽  
Careful Analysis ◽  
Negative Evidence ◽  
Processing Load ◽  
Syntactic Structures ◽  
Logical Problem ◽  
Multiple Process

Many researchers believe that there is a logical problem at the centre of language acquisition theory. According to this analysis, the input to the learner is too inconsistent and incomplete to determine the acquisition of grammar. Moreover, when corrective feedback is provided, children tend to ignore it. As a result, language learning must rely on additional constraints from universal grammar. To solve this logical problem, theorists have proposed a series of constraints and parameterizations on the form of universal grammar. Plausible alternatives to these constraints include: conservatism, item-based learning, indirect negative evidence, competition, cue construction, and monitoring. Careful analysis of child language corpora has cast doubt on claims regarding the absence of positive exemplars. Using demonstrably available positive data, simple learning procedures can be formulated for each of the syntactic structures that have traditionally motivated invocation of the logical problem. Within the perspective of emergentist theory (MacWhinney, 2001), the operation of a set of mutually supportive processes is viewed as providing multiple buffering for developmental outcomes. However, the fact that some syntactic structures are more difficult to learn than others can be used to highlight areas of intense grammatical competition and processing load.

scholarly journals The Effect of Collaborative Writing on EFL Students’ Grammatical Accuracy

2013 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
pp. 47-56
Author(s):  
Hussein Meihami ◽  
Bahram Meihami ◽  
Zeinab Varmaghani
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Collaborative Writing ◽  
Corrective Feedback ◽  
Foreign Language Learning ◽  
Advanced Students ◽  
Grammatical Errors ◽  
Grammatical Accuracy ◽  
Efl Students ◽  
Age Range

Writing is considered as an activity which is done individually and the role of thumb for its feedback is thought to be provided by teachers and instructors. Although there has been a growing body of research on using pair and small group activities in second or foreign language learning in relation to oral skill (e.g. Speaking), on writing there are only a few well-documented researches. This research describes a study exploring the effect of collaborative writing on EFL student’s grammatical accuracy in their writing. A total of 50 Iranian Advanced students of English all male and with the age range of 20 to 24 participated in this study. The subjects were engaged in tasks in which they worked on each other’s writing and gave feedback on grammatical points to each other. Obtaining corrective feedback from their fellows, enabled students to pinpoint their grammatical errors better and subsequently improve their grammatical accuracy in their upcoming writings. The results suggest that collaborative writing (CW) is beneficial in allowing EFL learners to make gain in grammatical accuracy.

scholarly journals Multimodally Enhanced Opportunities for Language Learning: Gestures Used in Word Search Sequences in ESL Tutoring

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 44
Author(s):  
Mi-Suk Seo
Keyword(s):  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Corrective Feedback ◽  
Fine Grained ◽  
Candidate Solution ◽  
Word Search ◽  
Lexical Errors ◽  
Esl Learners ◽  
Study Offer

Focusing on word search sequences initiated by ESL learners in conversation tutoring, this study examines how the participants use gestures in order to facilitate language learning as well as mutual understanding. Adopting the methodological framework of Conversation Analysis, it analyzes two particular sequential contexts: (a) when a tutee uses gestures without a candidate solution to her/his word search, directly soliciting the tutor’s co-participation; and (b) when a tutee uses gestures with a candidate solution to her/his word search but there is mismatch between the candidate solution and the accompanying gesture. A fine-grained analysis of the participants’ moment-by-moment verbal and nonverbal actions reveals that gestures create multimodally enhanced opportunities for language learning by allowing the tutor to offer lexical items that are new or unfamiliar to the tutee and/or to provide corrective feedback on the lexical errors. The findings from this study offer implications for the role of gesture in L2 learning and for some of the key concepts in second language acquisition such as output, corrective feedback, and communication strategies.

The Role Of L1 Influence On the Learning Of a Target Language In a Non Target Language Environment

1986 ◽  
Vol 74 ◽  
pp. 63-105 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sophie Hsia
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Methodological Approach ◽  
Corrective Feedback ◽  
Target Language ◽  
The Third ◽  
Teacher Input ◽  
Semantic Concepts ◽  
Language Environment ◽  
Degree Level

In recent studies on the acquisition of a second or foreign language in a non target language environment, environmental factors such as lack of native peer input, a formal language learning situation and pressure on the learner to produce the required target language structures have been considered to have attributed to a high incidence of L1 induced or interlingual errors. In order to investigate this problem, I collected spontaneous speech samples from some eighty francophone students enrolled at the Faculté de Sciences Economiques and the Ecole de Solvay who were learning English at the Institut de Phonétique at the Université Libre de Bruxelles. The data represented two levels of learning, the first degree level when students entered the course and the third degree level which marked the end of the course. My hypothesis was that given a difference in emphasis within the TL syllabus from that of TL forms (communicative English) to that of TL content (business English) and given also that the same methodological approach was adopted with native teacher input and optimal corrective feedback, students might progress beyond Ll-induced to somewhere approximating TL rule formation. The error samples were broken down into categories representing syntax, word order, morphology, semantic concepts and lexis. They were examined and compared across levels for examples of interlingual (Ll-induced) and organisational (non Ll-induced) errors. An anamysis of the data indicated a decrease in interlingual errors but an increase in organisa-tional errors at the third degree level, suggesting the existence of a continuum that accommodates possibilities of fossilization due to lack of native peer input. My data also suggested the role of L1 in its influence on the formation of semantic concepts in TL and in organising, comparing and hypothesizing lexical domains in the two languages.

scholarly journals The Roles of Positive and Negative Evidence in the Development of the English Present Progressive Structure

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 34
Author(s):  
Sarah Al-Maghrabi ◽  
Mona Sabir
Keyword(s):  
English Language ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Negative Evidence ◽  
Positive Evidence ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Language Classrooms ◽  
Post Test ◽  
Quasi Experimental ◽  
Present Progressive

The type of linguistic evidence necessary for ultimate L2 attainment has been a major topic of debate. This research investigates the role of negative vs. positive evidence in the acquisition of the affirmative and negative present progressive structures. Following a quasi-experimental design, 49 Saudi EFL learners were divided into three groups: Control Group (n=13), Negative Evidence group (n=15), and Positive Evidence group (n=21). It was hypothesized that negative evidence would be more effective for the acquisition of the present progressive structure than positive evidence, to the point that a significant difference would result between the performance of the two experimental groups. The participants took a pre-test, after which they were given classroom intervention sessions on the use of the English present progressive structure. They then took a post-test. The results show significant differences in the performance of the experimental groups compared to the control group. However, there was no statistical difference between the two experimental groups. Thus, the research supports the importance of the role of negative evidence in teaching L2 when paired with positive evidence. We outline pedagogical implications for further research to determine the extent to which the two types of evidence can be blended in English language classrooms.

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