An Investigation of Native and Non-Native English-Speaking Teachers' Cognitions about Oral Corrective Feedback

Abstract

The present study sought to compare and contrast the perception of native and non-native speakers and experienced and less experienced teachers about CF and to examine controversial issues, such as frequency of CF, timing of CF, types of oral errors that should be corrected, its methods, and the person who should do the correcting. Ninety-nine English language teachers teaching in the preparatory year at Ha’il University participated in the study completed a questionnaire and involved in a semi structured interview. The findings showed that teachers in general have a strong positive perception of oral CF. Although teachers preferred to correct serious errors and frequent errors most frequently, they tended to delay correction until after a student finishes speaking rather than immediately. Moreover, results indicated that elicitation, implicit and repetition were the most frequently used feedback across all types of teachers. The students preferred the CF provided by the teachers. Classmates or peers were the least popular. Further, the results did not show significant differences between types of teachers, except for ‘frequent errors, and infrequent errors’ where native speakers tended to correct them more than non-native speakers. Additionally, less experienced teachers had more frequent use of CF and used the metalinguistic feedback method more compared to experienced teachers. Implication for teaching speaking are also discussed.