EFL University students' perception of immediate oral corrective feedback in two Costa Rican private institutions

Abstract

In recent years there has been extensive research focusing on oral corrective feedback (OCF), a key aspect of English as a second/foreign language (ESL/EFL) learning mostly focused on the linguists’ and teachers’ perspective. On the other hand, very little has been done to know the learners’ perspective. The aim of this investigation was to gather students’ point of view of oral corrective feedback given by teachers in EFL courses at two private universities from San Jose, Costa Rica. This research is descriptive, cross-sectional, and quantitative in nature. For the data collection, an on-line questionnaire was created which was answered voluntarily by 160 adult students from the levels 1 and 2 (corresponding to A1/A2 CEFR classification) the EFL program from these universities. Participants were interrogated on their general attitude towards corrective feedback and whether they considered it to be important for their learning process, the frequency with which they like to receive feedback, which type of errors they consider should be corrected and the preference of error correction type. The obtained results demonstrate positive perceptions regarding the feedback received from teachers on all types of errors. Learners expect to receive immediate CF as they consider this to be an important part of the learning process. The participants expressed a desire to be corrected in all grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation deviances. The preferred method of corrective feedback was explicit correction, followed by recast and clarification; metalinguistic correction and non-verbal cues were the least liked.