A Learner-Centered Analysis of Corrective Feedback as a Resource in Foreign Language Development

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah R. Sellevaag ◽  
Erica Kleinknecht ◽  
Heide Island

ReCALL ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
Cédric Brudermann ◽  
Muriel Grosbois ◽  
Cédric Sarré

Abstract In a previous study (Sarré, Grosbois & Brudermann, 2019), we explored the effects of various corrective feedback (CF) strategies on interlanguage development for the online component of a blended English as a foreign language (EFL) course we had designed and implemented. Our results showed that unfocused indirect CF (feedback on all error types through the provision of metalinguistic comments on the nature of the errors made) combined with extra computer-mediated micro-tasks was the most efficient CF type to foster writing accuracy development in our context. Following up on this study, this paper further explores the effects of this specific CF type on learners’ written accuracy development in an online EFL course designed for freshmen STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) students. In the online course under study, this specific CF type was experimented with different cohorts of STEM learners (N = 1,150) over a five-year period (from 2014 to 2019) and was computer-assisted: CF provision online by a human tutor was combined with predetermined CF comments. The aim of this paper is to investigate the impact of this specific CF strategy on error types. In this respect, the data yield encouraging results in terms of writing accuracy development when learners benefit from this computer-assisted specific CF. This study thus helps to gain a better understanding of the role that CF plays in shaping students’ revision processes and could inform language (teacher) education regarding the use of digital tools for the development of foreign language accuracy and the issues related to online CF provision.


Author(s):  
Nadia Mifka-Profozic

AbstractThis paper compares the effects of recasts and clarification requests as two implicit types of corrective feedback (CF) on learning two linguistic structures denoting past aspectual distinction in French, the passé composé and the imparfait. The participants in this classroom-based study are 52 high-school learners of French FL at a pre-intermediate level of proficiency (level B1 of CEFR). A distinctive feature of this study is the use of focused, context constrained communicative tasks in both treatment and tests. The paper specifically highlights the advantages of feedback using recasts for the acquisition of morpho-syntactically complex grammatical structures such as is the French passé composé. The study points to the participants’ communicative ability as an essential aspect of language proficiency, which seems to be crucial to bringing about the benefits of recasts. Oral communicative skill in a foreign language classroom is seen as a prerequisite for an appropriate interpretation and recognition of the corrective nature of recasts.


2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 76
Author(s):  
Emre Debreli ◽  
Nazife Onuk

<p class="apa">In the area of language teaching, corrective feedback is one of the popular and hotly debated topics that have been widely explored to date. A considerable number of studies on students’ preferences of error correction and the effects of error correction approaches on student achievement do exist. Moreover, much on teachers’ preferences of error correction approaches has also been explored. However, less seems to be done with regard to teachers’ practices of error correction approaches, especially in the area of English as a Foreign Language (EFL). The present study explored EFL teacher’s preferences of error correction approaches in the speaking skill, and further focused on whether the teachers were able to employ the approaches they preferred in their classrooms. Data were collected from a group of 17 EFL teachers, through semi-structured interviews and classroom observations. The findings revealed that although the teachers had clear preferences for error correction approaches, they could not employ them in their classrooms owing to the educational programme constraints. Furthermore, it was observed that they often had to adopt approaches that they were not actually in favour of. Implications for programme and curriculum designers are further discussed.</p>


1996 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 718-718 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Bley-Vroman

AbstractWhile child language development theory must explain invariant “success,” foreign language learning theory must explain variation and lack of success. The fundamental difference hypothesis (FDH) outlines such a theory. Epstein et al. ignore the explanatory burden, mischaracterize the FDH, and underestimate the resources of human cognition. The field of second language acquisition is not divided into camps by views on “access” to UG.


2013 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Constanza Tolosa ◽  
Martin East ◽  
Helen Villers

This study contributes to the body of research that aims to understandthe relationship between online communication and foreign language(FL) learning, in particular when teachers seek to provide authenticopportunities for interaction for their learners. The study wasmotivated by efforts made in the New Zealand context to overcome thegeographic limitations of interaction between FL learners and nativespeakers. We report on the findings of an exploratory study into anonline reciprocal peer tutoring program established to enhance the FLlearning of a group of beginner eleven-year old students of Spanish,with particular focus on the benefits of written corrective feedback. Theproject aimed to examine the processes by which students tutored eachother in the online environment as they responded to each other’s texts.The analysis of the students’ messages focused on (1) the aspects oflanguage corrected by the tutors, (2) the frequency with which tutorsaccurately identified and provided input on errors, (3) the types offeedback provided by the tutors, and (4) what the learners did with thecorrections and feedback. The findings indicate that the students werewilling to contribute to peer correction and used different strategiesand correction techniques to foster attention to linguistic form,although they were not always capable of providing accurate feedbackor metalinguistic explanations.


Author(s):  
Elisabeth Clifford ◽  
Christine Pleines ◽  
Hilary Thomas ◽  
Susanne Winchester

The benefits of peer interaction, support, and feedback in Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) for Languages (LMOOCs) are well documented, but there has been little research on peer correction in MOOCs. Classroom-based research suggests that peer corrective feedback has significant potential for language development, but it also identifies a number of conditions for the feedback to be effective, notably a ‘positive classroom atmosphere’; this may be hard to achieve on a MOOC, with its diverse cohort and large number of participants. Our mixed-method study reveals participants’ conflicting expectations of learning from their peers on the one hand and actively contributing to their peers’ learning on the other. Most participants believe they are not competent to provide helpful corrective feedback, and some think that the expectation to correct creates unwanted pressure and hinders communication. This paper encourages MOOC educators to address the challenge of creating a culture of learning through meaningful interaction whilst also finding ways of exploiting the opportunities offered by constructive peer correction.


Author(s):  
Douglas A. Agar ◽  
Philip J. Chappell

This chapter reports on the creation and evaluation of the Language Education Videogame Evaluation Rubric (LEVER) which, it is hoped, will be of benefit to those involved in the teaching and learning of foreign languages. Based upon a sociocultural model of language development, this research is unique in the manner in which it draws on up-to-date best practice in the domains of both language pedagogy and videogame design. This chapter will then report on the application of the LEVER to two titles which have been created to teach a foreign language, in order to both to test the games for quality and the rubric itself for rigour and ease-of-use.


Author(s):  
Esperanza Granados-Bezi

The scaffolds of American colleges and universities can no longer protect our institutions from the winds of change that penetrate their walls and appear to be threatening their foundations. They also seem incapable of protecting faculties from persistent criticism due to unsatisfactory performance and reluctance to modify educational approaches to meet society's current demands. This chapter reviews some of the most common concerns pertaining not only to the quality of higher education in general but also to that of foreign language teaching in particular. It analyzes the reasons that there is a general sense of dissatisfaction with the results of traditional practices to language learning and discusses the benefits of implementing the flipped model to enhance the quality of instruction. In addition, it underlines the importance of adopting innovative technologies to increase language development in a world in which instructors are expected to be more productive and students have to reach higher learning outcomes.


Author(s):  
Tasha N. Lewis

This chapter offers an innovative approach for implementing telecollaborative activities in order to enable students to connect with peers in real-time, with the goal of creating a micro-immersion experience called a “Virtual Language Exchange”. This chapter describes and compares two intermediate Spanish classes participating in Virtual Language Exchanges via Skype: one paired with peers from the target language and culture, and one paired with peers from within the class itself. Students from both groups participate in meaningful interactions in the target language in order to complete the assigned task-based activities. The chapter argues that finding new ways to bring the target language to life by using technology, like the Virtual Language Exchange experience described here, can benefit students' foreign language development in multiple ways.


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