Teacher Feedback Anna Martinović University of Zadar Centre for Foreign Languages HUPE CONFERENCE 2012 Opatija, Croatia April 19-22, 2012

Outline What is feedback? Types of feedback Corrective feedback When? How? Study results Conclusions

What is feedback?

Definition Harmer (2002, 99): Feedback encompasses not only correcting students, but also offering them an assessment of how well they have done, whether during a drill or after a longer language production exercise.

Types of feedback

Types of feedback Harmer (2002): Written Oral - type of feedback depends on the kind of writing task, e.g. controlled tests (grammar), or creative writing (essays, stories) Oral - type of feedback depends on stage of lesson, the activity, the type of mistake made, and the individual student who is making the mistake

Vigil and Oller (in Brown 2000) Affective feedback - can be expressed with kinesic mechanisms, e.g. gestures, tone of voice, facial expressions Cognitive feedback - can be communicated through linguistic devices, e.g. sounds, phrases, structures, discourse

Vigil and Oller (in Brown 2000) Levels of feedback: Positive Negative Neutral

Vigil and Oller (in Brown 2000) Affective Feedback: Positive: Keep talking; I’m listening. Neutral: I’m not sure I want to maintain this conversation. Negative: This conversation is over.

Vigil and Oller (in Brown 2000) Cognitive Feedback: Positive: I understand your message; it’s clear. Neutral: I’m not sure if I correctly understand you or not. Negative: I don’t understand what you are saying; it’s not clear.

Affective and Cognitive feedback

Dilemma Too much negative cognitive feedback - student will not attempt to communicate further Too much positive cognitive feedback - letting errors go uncorrected - reinforces errors - may result in fossilization of errors

Corrective feedback

Corrective Feedback L2 learning takes place by exposure to ‘comprehensible input’ Assumption: L2 learning can also be enhanced by corrective feedback Gives learners an opportunity to see differences between their own ‘interlanguage’ and the target L2 Restructuring L2 grammar (Ellis, 1994; Gass, 1997) Enhances metalinguistic awareness (Swain, 1995)

Negative evidence gives learners an opportunity to initiate change.... Corrective Feedback Interaction Hypothesis ‘Negotiation of Meaning’ (Gass & Selinker, 2007) Negative evidence gives learners an opportunity to initiate change.... Restructuring of linguistic knowledge

Corrective Feedback Mistakes made by students can be divided into three categories (Edge, 1989): slips - mistakes students can correct themselves errors - mistakes students cannot correct themselves attempts - a student tries to say something but does not yet know the correct way of saying it

When?

Corrective feedback - WHEN? Brown (2007): Teacher must discern the optimal tension between positive and negative feedback

Corrective feedback - WHEN? Hendrickson (1980): Teacher must discern between types of errors. Global errors - make communication difficult; hearer does not understand some part of the message Local errors - affect a single element of a sentence; message is understood; context provides keys to meaning

Corrective feedback - WHEN? Harmer (2002): Depends on focus of the lesson or task Fluency: Communicative activities Role-play, discussions Accuracy: Non-communicative activities Grammar, pronunciation, or vocabulary exercises

Corrective feedback - WHEN? Long (in Brown, 2007): Teacher must decide whether to treat the error at all. Factors: Importance of the error to the pedogogical focus of the lesson Teacher’s perception of the chance of eliciting correct performance from the student if negative feedback is given Teacher’s beliefs (conscious or unconscious) about the language and language learning in general

Long’s model of the decision-making process prior to the teacher feedback move

How?

Error treatment Chaudron (in Allwright & Bailey, 2002): Basic options: To treat or ignore To treat immediately or to delay To transfer treatment (to, perhaps, other learners) or not To transfer to another individual, a subgroup, or the whole class To return, or not, to original error maker after treatment To permit other learners to initiate treatment To test for the efficacy of the treatment

Error treatment Chaudron (in Allwright & Bailey, 2002): Possible Features: Fact of error indicated Location indicated Opportunity for new attempt given Model provided Error type indicated Remedy indicated Improvement indicated Praise indicated

Chaudron’s Flow chart model of corrective discourse

Corrective feedback - HOW? Categories: Lyster & Ranta (1997): S: He pass his house. T: No, we say, ‘He passed his house.’ Explicit correction The teacher indicates the utterance was incorrect by providing the correct form.

Corrective feedback - HOW? Example 1: S: Why he want this house? T: Why does he want this house? Example 2: S: What doctor say? T: What is the doctor saying?

Corrective feedback - HOW? Recasts The teacher implicitly reformulates the student’s error, or provides the correction, without directly indicating that the student’s utterance was incorrect.

Corrective feedback - HOW? S: Cinde, ah, Cinderella changed into, the beautiful girl. (Laugh) Ah, and, the Cin, Cinderella went to the palace by coach. The, the prince fall in love at first glance. T: Sorry? S: Ah, the prince fall in,..., fell in love at first glance...

Corrective feedback - HOW? Clarification request Teacher uses phrases such as “Excuse me?”, “Sorry?”, or “I don’t understand” to indicate the message has not been understood or that the student’s utterance contained some kind of mistake and that a repetition or reformulation is required.

Corrective feedback - HOW? S: He is tallest than his brother. T: Do we say ‘tallest’ in the comparative? Metalinguistic clues The teacher does not provide the correct form, but asks questions or provides comments or information about the error.

Corrective feedback - HOW? Example 1: S: We went to the ...ah... ‘dom’ to visit my grandmother... T: How do we say ‘dom’ in English? Example 2: T: Take a look at this picture... It’s a.... Example 3: S: In the picture we see the dog chase the cat... T: Say that again... S: In the picture we see the dog chasing the cat..

Corrective feedback - HOW? Elicitation The teacher directly elicits the correct form from the student by asking questions, by pausing to allow the student to complete the teacher’s utterance, or by asking students to reformulate the utterance.

Corrective feedback - HOW? Example 1: S: John goed to town yesterday. T: John goed to town?” Repetition Teacher repeats the student’s error and adjusts intonation (uses rising intonation) to draw student’s attention to it.

Corrective feedback - HOW? Example 2: S: “This book is hard.” T: “This book is hard.” (Meaning ‘You’re right. It is.’) Repetion by teachers with falling intonation usually affirms correctness In both rising and falling intonation questions, the teacher usually stresses some element in the repeated form with either meaning.

A study

A study Martinović & Poljaković (2012) AIM Sample How does the teacher react to student talk? Sample Transcripts of four forty-five minute video-taped sessions of English lessons held by four different teachers at the University of Zadar. First year Humanities and Social Science students. Course: English for Specific Purposes.

A study Instruments and Procedures Moves Framework of classroom discourse: Moves structuring, soliciting, responding, reacting Analytical system produced by Bellack et al. (Bellack in Allwright & Bailey, 2002)

Study results

Results

Table 1: Analysis of Teacher Feedback (Total number)

Table 2: Analysis of Teacher Feedback (Individual teachers)

Discussion

Discussion Repetitions Chaudron (1990:145): #1 form of feedback Teacher gives reinforcement of correct response Chaudron (1990:145): “repetitions are among the most common types of corrective feedback”

Discussion Accepting responses Implications #2 form of feedback Teacher shows approval of S response (Alright, Good, Okay...) Implications Helps maintain communication Promotes student self-esteem

Discussion Alternative response (explicit correction) Implications #3 form of feedback: Teacher provides the correct form Implications Excellent students? Lesson not challenging?

Discussion Prompts Implications: ??? #12 form of feedback: Teacher uses lead-in clue to get S to repeat ut., at point of error – elicitation (It’s a ...) Implications: ???

Conclusion Use of positive reinforcement through language – positive atmosphere; encouragement of student participation? Few error repairs – language lesson failed to be challenging enough? Lack of variety in the use of other forms of feedback i.e. ‘recasts’

Conclusion What factors are involved in the lack of variety of corrective feedback among teachers? How aware are teachers of different forms of corrective feedback? Can corrective feedback have a positive influence on long-term L2 learning, that is, L2 acquisition?

Questions?

Thank you for your attention!