Oral corrective feedback in the foreign language classroom: how it affects interaction in analytic foreign language teaching

Abstract

The discussion on the role of corrective feedback is part of a larger discussion on the role of ‘focusing on form’ in foreign language teaching (Focus on form in classroom second language acquisition, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1998). Studies conducted in communicative and content-based foreign language teaching (FLT) settings have shown that some focus on form seems to be required for learners to ‘notice the gap’ (in: R. Day (Ed.), Talking to Learn, Newbury House, Rowley, MA, pp. 237–326) between their erroneous utterances and the target language.This article discusses the role of different types of oral corrective feedback in analytic FLT. Stern (in: B. Harley, P. Allen, J. Cummins, M. Swain (Eds.), The Development of Second Language Proficiency, Cambridge University Press, New York, pp. 93–109; Issues and options in language teaching, Oxford University Press, Oxford) refers to FLT as analytic when the focus of instruction is on the form of the foreign language as opposed to more content-based approaches where the focus is on meaning and content. Typical for analytic FLT are discrete point presentation along with feedback on formal error. This type of FLT is still common practice in Belgian secondary schools.The study explores the role of different kinds of corrective feedback in an analytic setting (German as a foreign language in Flanders, Belgium). The frequency and distribution of several corrective feedback types together with the frequency and distribution of different types of learner uptake following each feedback type (see Stud. Second Language Acquisit. 19 (1997) 37) are discussed. The question then is which strategy is to be preferred in terms of noticing the feedback.