Learner affect in computerised L2 oral grammar practice with corrective feedback

Abstract

ABSTRACTAlthough corrective feedback (CF) has received much interest in the second language acquisition literature, relatively little research has investigated the relationship between CF and learner affect in concrete practice situations. The present study investigates learners’ affective states and practice behaviour in a novel context: oral grammar practice with a computer-assisted language learning (CALL) system employing automatic speech recognition (ASR) technology to analyse learners’ speech and provide feedback. Thirty-one adult learners of Dutch practiced with this system in one of two conditions: the no-feedback condition (NOCF) and the feedback condition (CF) which provided immediate CF through ASR. Despite concerns that CF can elicit negative affective reactions and although practice with feedback forced learners to reformulate more often, CF did not appear to have a negative impact. Our analysis finds no significant differences between the NOCF and CF groups. A significant correlation between practice performance and self-efficacy was found in the CF only. These findings suggest that ASR-enabled CALL systems may be suitable environments for oral grammar practice where CF on oral productions can be provided without negative affective responses, and that without feedback, learners may develop self-efficacy beliefs which do not necessarily reflect their actual performance.