Self-regulated EFL learning through productive feedback in Iranian private language institutes: a case for sustainable lifelong learning outcomes

Abstract

Various determinants contribute to the disappointing outcomes of the EFL programmes in non-Anglophone countries, thereby limiting citizens in these countries access to international academic and economic platforms. One such determinant is EFL teachers’ productive feedback practice. Productive feedback is embedded in a constructivist view of learning, follows a learner-centered approach to feedback, and supports self-regulation, and therefore plays a core role in the learning of any language. This paper reports on a sequential mixed-methods study investigating productive feedback practices in EFL programmes in the context of private institutes in Iran. An inventory previously developed by the authors, comprising seven productive feedback features grounded in the literature, allowed for measuring 177 participating EFL teachers' self-reported productive feedback practices. Follow-up individual interviews with ten teachers as a subsample of the larger sample focussed on outliers and extremes emerging from the quantitative data. An integrative approach to reporting our research findings on the quantitative and qualitative data as well as the literature, presents a picture of EFL teachers' productive feedback practices. The quantitative data confirmed that the participating EFL teachers rarely applied productive feedback approaches, while the qualitative data provided a deeper understanding of participant responses and possible determinants influencing their feedback approaches. The findings are of importance to stakeholders involved in EFL who have the responsibility to ensure EFL courses support anticipated learning goals, including lifelong learning opportunities and access to the global society.