Students’ Preferences Regarding the Techniques of Oral Corrective Feedback in a Tertiary Institution

Abstract

Oral corrective feedback (OCF) is an important topic for English as a second/foreign language (ESL/EFL) teachers involved in foreign language acquisition. Several studies have been conducted on OCF in learning and teaching English. Although there are extensive published studies on OCF in Thailand, to the best of my knowledge, little research has been conducted on the sources of OCF in tertiary institutions in southern Thailand. The current study bridges this research gap by investigating students’ preferences regarding the sources of error of OCF at a Thai university in the southern province of Thailand. A questionnaire was designed using six five-point Likert scale questions, and data were also collected through observation. Participants were 60 undergraduate students from a tertiary institution in southern Thailand. Analysis of student responses was carried out using mean and standard deviation statistics. The findings from this study reveal that the participants preferred that the teacher point out their errors rather than themselves or their peers. In addition, participants chose error correction by their teachers above peer or self-correction. Although the students who participated in this study preferred the teacher’s feedback to their peers, some were open to being trained in self-correction. The value of this study is that the findings may assist both teachers and students in error identification and correction and serve as the first step in ensuring that students in tertiary institutions in Thailand are more confident in expressing themselves using the English language. Future studies can be carried out to explore the preferences of students from other Thai regions.