A Comparison of Efficiency in Teacher Correction Strategies in Iranian EFL Learners’ Speaking Improvement

Roya Keshavarz,Amin Marzban

doi:10.5539/ijel.v6n6p183

Abstract

<p>The present study was an attempt to investigate the effect two types of corrective feedback (i.e., recast and metalinguistic) in order to find out which one is more effective on EFL learners’ speaking improvement and also to see if gender could play a role in the relative impact of the two types of corrective feedback on learners’ speaking ability. To this end, 65 EFL learners of intermediate level in one of language institutes in Shiraz, Iran were selected and divided into three groups including two experimental groups and one control. The instruments used to collect the data included IELTS test as the pre and post tests and Oxford Placement Test (OPT) in order to obtain the homogeneity in participants’ English proficiency. The collected data were codified and entered into SPSS Software (Version 22) and were analysed using descriptive statistics, t-test, and Tukey test. The results indicated that although applying these two types of corrective feedback could have made improvement in EFL learners’ speaking ability, there was not observed any significant difference between impacts of recast and metalinguistic on EFL learners’ production. The test results also indicated that there was not any significant difference regarding gender within the three groups. This homogeneity further shows that in this study, the gender variable did not have any effect on the role of corrective feedback and it can be concluded that the observed difference between metalinguistic group, recast group, and control group is just the result of the provided corrective feedback type which has acted as the intervening variable and the moderator variable such as gender did not prove to have any effect in the outcome of this study. The findings can contribute to syllabus design and teaching methodology areas.</p>

Highlights

Learners of second language commit some errors and by correcting these errors in some special ways, the process of learning another language is going to be complete
The results indicated that applying these two types of corrective feedback could have made improvement in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners’ speaking ability, there was not observed any significant difference between impacts of recast and metalinguistic on EFL learners’ production
The test results indicated that there was not any significant difference regarding gender within the three groups. This homogeneity further shows that in this study, the gender variable did not have any effect on the role of corrective feedback and it can be concluded that the observed difference between metalinguistic group, recast group, and control group is just the result of the provided corrective feedback type which has acted as the intervening variable and the moderator variable such as gender did not prove to have any effect in the outcome of this study

Summary

Introduction

Learners of second language commit some errors and by correcting these errors in some special ways, the process of learning another language is going to be complete. The way through which learners’ errors are corrected is quite important in process of teaching and learning English as Second Language (ESL) or English as a Foreign Language (EFL). Without correcting errors, the process of learning and teaching another language would remain incomplete and errors would be fossilized in the learners’ mind. An important issue that has attracted much attention recently is how the learners’ errors could be corrected and which techniques should be applied for correcting EFL and ESL learners’ errors. Ferris (1999) “suggested that attention be given to investigating which methods, techniques, or approaches to error correction lead to short-term or long-term improvement and whether students make better development in observing certain types of errors than others”

Objectives

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Results

Conclusion