An Analysis of the In-Class Oral Feedback Provided by the Teachers of Turkish as a Foreign Language

Abstract

Feedback can be defined as the act of providing information to the student regarding their behavior throughout the learning process as well as how much progress has been achieved as a result of such behavior. In other words, it is the communicative process that explains how successful or unsuccessful a student is at a given topic, by providing them with the opportunity of self-assessment and correction. The aim of this study is to specify the in-class oral feedback elements provided by the teachers of Turkish as a Foreign Language, along with the analysis of these feedback types and offering suggestions to those who work in the field. Employing the specific case study method among the existing qualitative research methods, this study involves the 4-week observation of the classes given by the instructors of Turkish as a Foreign Language at Istanbul University Language Center at A1, A2, B1, B2 and C1 levels. The oral feedback provided by the instructors throughout the observation sessions has been noted down and compiled. These feedback items were then analyzed in accordance with Schimmel's feedback classification (1988). Accordingly, these feedback items were classified in four groups as confirmation feedback, correct response feedback, explanatory feedback and bug-related feedback. The results of the study has shown that the instructors preferred mostly the confirmation feedback and the correct response feedback, usually used the confirmation feedback and correct response feedback in combination. On the other hand, the frequency of explanatory feedback decreased as the students' language competence level increased, and the least preferred feedback type was found to be the bug-related feedback.