Exploring Literature Reading Classes in Terms of Types of Feedback Provided by EFL Teachers: Does Teaching Experience Play a Determining Role?

Abstract

Reading comprehension is thought to be a very challenging skill for L2 (second language) learners, and definitely the role that feedback has in enhancing reading achievement is undeniable. To shed more light on the issue, this study aimed to investigate the types of feedback utilized by EFL teachers in L2 reading comprehension classes at the intermediate level. The study took a step forward and explored the role of years of teaching experience in the provision of feedback. The study also examined the frequency of different types of errors that EFL learners committed in reading comprehension classes. To this end, an observational and descriptive study was conducted. Six EFL teachers along with their L2 learners at the intermediate level participated in the study. Three of these teachers were novices and the other three were experienced. The data were drawn from transcripts of audio recording of the selected teachers’ reading comprehension classes. Following the analysis, the corrective feedback types and the errors were coded using the coding categories identified in Lyster and Ranta’s (1997) model. Two other corrective feedback types were added - translation and multiple feedback. The frequency count and percentage were used to analyze the data. The results indicated that recasts were the most frequently used feedback type in both groups of teachers. Moreover, both experienced and novice teachers preferred to use varied corrective feedback types at different distributions which may suggest that there is a significant difference between novice and experienced teachers’ use of corrective feedback types. Regarding the error types, the analysis of the data showed that among four types of errors, the phonological errors were the most commonly errors committed by EFL learners in reading comprehension classes. The implications are discussed in the study.