Oral Corrective Feedback Preferences of University Students in English Communication Classes

Abstract

The ultimate goal of teaching foreign language is to achieve an elevated level of language competence via providing maximum language exposure and minimum learner mistakes. To fulfill the goal, many strategies have been developed. One of the strategies is the provision of feedback during the formal speaking courses. Nevertheless, format of the oral corrective feedback in English as a foreign language (EFL) classes has been controversial regarding methods of correction, timing of correction and target errors. Moreover, learner attitudes toward correction are deemed to be an important component. In this study, the aim was to investigate how and when the error correction should take place in EFL communicative classes based on students’ perspectives. A total of 65 students at Kafkas University who were pre-intermediate and intermediate levels were interviewed using a self-report questionnaire, 14 of which were discarded due to irrelevant and redundant replies. The results revealed that 90% of the learners would like to be corrected when they had errors during the process of speaking English. Majority of the students indicated the preference to be corrected after finishing turn with nice and friendly manners. The results indicated that teachers should be aware of student attitudes toward oral corrective feedback.