TDC 3 - CORRECTIVE FEEDBACK AND EFFECTIVE LEARNING

CASA THOMAS JEFFERSON

TDC 3 – PRINCIPLES OF LANGUAGE LEARNING AND TEACHING

TEACHER: LUELI CERUTI

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CORRECTIVE FEEDBACK AND EFFECTIVE LEARNING

On November 11^th, 2013, I observed an adult group consisting of 10 students learning English as a foreign language in the basic level. My objective was to take notes on which types of corrective feedback were used during the class. After all, some types of feedback lead to more uptake on the part of the student while others lead to no uptake at all. However, before I start analyzing the class, there is one thing which must be pointed out. These students have just started learning the language. In cases like this, it is essential that the teacher create a friendly environment in the classroom to foster learning. And the teacher of this particular group definitely achieved that. All the students participated and were eager to learn, which paves the way to successful language learning. Also, it is important to remember that the production of the students is very controlled, since they master very few structures at this point. This being the case, it is totally acceptable that there were more display questions than genuine questions during the class.

EFL classrooms are instructional language learning settings. The focus is on the language itself, rather than on the messages carried by the language. This class was no different and the general goal of the lesson was verbs with opposite meanings. That being said, although they were dealing with verbs, they focused on the meaning of the verbs. Therefore, what I saw was an overall communication-based focus of instruction. Moreover, there was also an activity with a song (Don’t Worry, Be Happy, by Bobby McFerrin), in which the teacher used authentic material to elicit meaning from the students. This made the whole class experience more meaningful for the students.

There are many types of corrective feedback, each with its own appropriate uses. According to research on the topic, some types of feedback are more effective than others in the classroom setting. The types of corrective feedback that I observed during the lesson were varied. The teacher did not use recasts or explicit correction at all, which is a good thing in my opinion. Recasts lead to no uptake, while explicit correction might put the student under the spotlight in front of his peers, creating anxiety and hindering learning. On the other hand, there were plenty of clarification requests and elicitations, as well as repetition and metalinguistic feedback. These types of feedback generate high levels of uptake by students. As the class was taught in a school which follows the communicative approach, all the activities developed during the lesson were student-centered. Therefore, it’s no surprise that the type of corrective feedback that was mostly used during the class was elicitation, which generates a 100% uptake by students. All in all, it was a very effective class in terms of student uptake. The teacher did an outstanding job.

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The big question that comes to mind, however, is when to use corrective feedback in classrooms.  Too much feedback can be overwhelming and learners may see their performance as a failure, thus injuring their self-image and confidence. On the other hand, little feedback may help students improve in a few areas such as fluency, but it may be harmful to students' progress in the long run. At the end of the day, the goal is to find balance between giving too much or too little corrective feedback. Stay on the lookout for that teachable moment. Make sure you know your students well so you can be ready when the moment presents itself. Also, vary your types of feedback so students with different learning abilities can benefit from them equally. Unfortunately, there is no perfect recipe that works in all classrooms. Each teacher must adapt his classes, activities, and types of corrective feedback to his own students. Remember this: teachers are the pawns in this game of chess. The key players here are the students. The ultimate goal in any classroom, after all, is that learning takes place.