Giving explicit feedback on spoken errors - the more the better Gabrielle Luoni 12th May 2018

Overview of this Presentation Overview of previous research Background reading Metalanguage Action research questions The three stages of the research Conclusions and implications Questions and discussion time

From MY previous research How do teachers respond to students’ spoken errors? Ignoring Implicitly correcting Explicitly correcting Hamayan & Tucker (1980)

Implicit / Explicit correction S: He’s looking for some file. T: He’s looking in a file. (implicit correction) S: He’s plugging into the car. T: We say pumping the gas. (explicit correction)

other areas of interest… What kind of errors do teachers respond to? How do students respond to these corrections? Uptake i.e. students’ response to the corrections: S: He’s plugging into the car. T: We say pumping the gas S: Pumping…the gas. (uptake) Q

Students’ uptake (ratio) Overview Teachers’ responses % Ignoring 43% Implicitly correcting 44% Explicitly correcting 11% Students’ uptake (ratio) Students’ uptake (%) - 40:73 54.7% 18:19 94.7%

Some discoveries from background reading Ignoring / Implicit / Explicit Lyster & Ranta (2007) state explicit correction as a reformulation of a student utterance plus a clear indication of an error. Sheen & Ellis (2011, cited in Lyster et al 2013) take this a step further by including an emphasis on metalinguistic explanation. explicit correction + metalinguistic explanation

Examples of Metalanguage I use singular and plural body language… verb agreement volume reporting verbs intonation wrong word pace tense stress word form pause pronunciation

[you used reporting verbs well when you said that Wenna suggests…] For e.g. You made a: verb agreement error when you said nuclear energy have, it should be nuclear energy has singular / plural error: Wind powers should be wind power word form error: The economic of the country. Economic is an adjective and in this situation you need a noun, so it should be….? [you used reporting verbs well when you said that Wenna suggests…]

the action research questions 1.When students corrected their peers did they use metalanguage? 2. How did students feel about being corrected? 3. Does feedback work?

The intervention Stage 1: The intervention: – when a student spoke to the whole class, I recorded them while noting any spoken errors made - after they had finished speaking, I gave them feedback using metalanguage

The intervention Stage 2: The last teaching day: students were put in assigned groups of 3 to practice for upcoming speaking exam - one student spoke, the other 2 listened and then gave feedback - students used phones to record interactions to send files to me later

however… How about word form? You need to improve your eye contact. This is where things somewhat collapsed... Consequently I only collected a few snippets of student-to-student feedback. How about word form? You need to improve your eye contact. You don’t need to talk too fast.

Stage 3: The intervention The survey questions: Was the teacher’s feedback helpful? When the teacher gave feedback how did you feel? When the teacher gave feedback to classmates what did you do? How did you feel giving feedback to classmates?

Was the teacher’s feedback helpful? Scale of ① to ⑤ 4B FFE1 Total % ① - ② ③ ④ 5 3 8/38 21 ⑤ 10 20 30/38 78

When the teacher gave feedback how did you feel? Response 4B FFE1 Total % Nervous & uncomfortable Neutral 8 8/38 21 Eager to hear 2 X 2/14 14 Gained a lot 12 15 27/38 71

When the teacher gave feedback to classmates what did you do? Response 4B FFE1 Total % Didn’t listen 0/38 Could apply it to myself 5 15 20/38 71 Found it interesting 7 7/38 18 Gained a lot 9 18/38 47

How did you feel giving feedback to classmates? Response 4B FFE1 Total % Strange & uncomfortable x 5 (repeater students) 5/24 20 Helped me think about own errors 17 17/24 70

Written Comments from students Pronunciation was most beneficial for me because I get chance to improve on it and it increase to know voccabulary. I feel good when I give feedback to my classmates because it helps them to improve in thier task during speaking. I got opportunity to learn about pronunciation as well as vocabulary. It was really beneficial to me. (cont…)

More written Comments from students Because at the begin of presentation, my tone was not good, after teacher told me, I paid attention to it, it is better now. Intonation and controlling my speed to deliver things was something that helped me. The way I talk is changed a lot. Because I usually speak like a robort. I think my grammar is good than befor.

And a few more I feel good when teacher gave us feedback to our classmates. It has made us to aware of being carefully while speaking, pronunciation, greeting etc. Pronunciation was beneficial because in the presentation I feel nervous and forget to clear pronunciation. My classmate’s problem might same with mine. So I could improve my speaking by my friend’s problem.

Anecdotal evidence I also informally spoke to a couple of students and asked how they felt about being given feedback for their spoken errors…

the action research questions 1. When students corrected their peers did they use metalanguage? 2. How did students feel about being corrected? 3. Does feedback work?

Conclusions & implications Give students explicit feedback for their spoken errors They need it They want it

Further research Next time: have the student intervention work better ask students if there was any difference in receiving feedback from the teacher compared to classmate have recorded interviews with students to gain more anecdotal data

Do you have any experiences to share? Questions and further discussion

References: Lyster R, Saito K, Sato M (2013), Oral corrective feedback in second language classrooms Cambridge Core, viewed 1 November 2017, https://doi.org/10.1017/S0261444812000365 Lyster, R. (1998) Negotiation of form, recasts, and explicit correction in relation to error ty pes and learner repair in immersion classrooms. Language Learning, vol.48 No.2 pp 183 - 218

Any further questions or comments please come and ask or contact me at Gabrielle.Luoni@insearch.edu.au