Oral Feedback in the English Language Classroom

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Communicative. Language Teaching. Situational Language. Teaching .... Harmer, J. The Practice of English Language Teaching (Harlow: Longman, 2001).
Positive Oral Feedback in the English Language Classroom A Research Project for the Trinity College Licenciate Diploma TESOL

Clare Fielder

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Outline Background literature  Research procedure  Findings  Conclusions  Recommendations 

Outline

Background

Research

Findings

Conclusions

Recommendations 2

Background Literature high number of publications on oral correction  Bostrom (1961) - all positive/all negative preformulated statements  Young (1974) - categories of feedback  Pearson (1976) - gender differences  Link et al (2001) - facial expressions & feedback perception, computerised tutors 

Outline

Background

Research

Findings

Conclusions

Recommendations 3

Background Literature        

Theoretical approaches Reform/Direct Method Communicative Language Teaching Situational Language Teaching Total Physical Response The Silent Way Community Language Learning Audio-Lingual Method

Outline

Background

Research

      

Findings

Textbooks/Teaching Guides Bolt (1971). Littlewood (1992) Hewings (2004) Brown & Yule (1983) Dunlop (1970) Harmer (2001)

Conclusions

Recommendations 4

Background Literature divergence of opinion on ‘good’ feedback  Little attention paid to positive feedback  top-down ideas about feedback - Bower (1986) theoretical investigations drift apart from language teaching practice  Sheal (1989) teachers find research impractical 

Outline

Background

Research

Findings

Conclusions

Recommendations 5

Research Procedure 

Aims ◦  bottom-up research ◦ To observe and compare frequencies of positive and negative verbal feedback in teaching advanced-level EFL learners. ◦ To observe and compare relative frequencies of verbal and paralinguistic positive and negative feedback.

Outline

Background

Research

Findings

Conclusions

Recommendations 6

Research Procedure 

Observe teachers in natural environment ◦ oral-based or integrated skills classes

Positive and negative feedback  Oral comments and gestures  frequency table observation instrument 

 



Burden’s (1995) ‘social reinforcers’ Flanders’ Interaction Analysis Categories (1970)

14 x 45 mins, 7 teachers

Outline

Background

Research

Findings

Conclusions

Recommendations 7

Research Procedure ORAL FEEDBACK

“Good“ / “Good work/idea“ “Excellent“ “Nice/thoughtful answer“ “Much better“ “Thank you“ “Yes“ “Well done“ “Right” / “correct” "mmm" / "mm hmm" FEEDBACK GESTURES Smiling (grinning) Nodding Clapping Thumbs up (positive gesture)

Outline

Background

Research

ORAL FEEDBACK "No" / “Not exactly” “Wrong” / “Incorrect” “Hmm” “Are you sure?” “Can anyone help?” “Try again” "errr"

FEEDBACK GESTURES

Shaking head Raising eyebrows Thumbs down (negative gesture) Wagging finger Sad face (mouth turned down) Frowning (puzzled look) Findings

Conclusions

Recommendations 8

Findings Positive

Verbal

Feedback

Combinat TOTAL

Feedback

Gestures

ions

244

198

264

706

113

118

90

321

357

316

354

1027

Feedback Correction / Negative Feedback TOTAL Outline

Background

Research

Findings

Conclusions

Recommendations 9

Findings 

Chi-square test hypotheses ◦ i) there is a difference in the frequency of positive and negative feedback given ◦ ii) the difference in the frequency of verbal, gestural and combinations of feedback given is influenced whether feedback positive/negative Chi-square

11.077

Degrees of freedom

2

p-value

0.00393242

Outline

Background

Research

Findings

Conclusions

Recommendations 10

Conclusions 

Difference in frequencies of positive and negative feedback given highly significant ◦ positive feedback to reinforce correct utterances more frequent than correction ◦ corrective feedback is not entirely absent

• If teachers = experts  selective

correction of serious errors, with positive feedback as reinforcement = most effective combination

Outline

Background

Research

Findings

Conclusions

Recommendations 11

Conclusions 

observed frequencies of types of feedback significantly influenced by whether feedback positive/negative ◦ Positive feedback more likely verbal / combo ◦ Negative feedback more likely gestural



If teachers = experts  gestures to show error, more emphatic (verbal or combination) praise to show good/correct utterance = most effective

Outline

Background

Research

Findings

Conclusions

Recommendations 12

Recommendations 

Research focus on positive feedback



Bottom-up educational research  realistic, generalisable findings  fewer divergent abstract ideas about “good” teaching practice.



Peer observation & discussion

Outline

Background

Research

Findings

Conclusions

Recommendations 13

Thank you for your attention! Any questions or comments?

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Works Cited                 

Bolt, S. The Right Response: Notes on Teaching English in Further Education (London: Hutchinson Educational, 1971) Bostrom, R.N., ‘The effects on speech attitudes of positive and negative evaluative comments on classroom speaking’, Dissertation Abstracts: State University of Iowa, 22 (1961), 27-32. Brophy, J.E. Motivating Students to Learn (Boston: McGraw-Hill, 1998) Brown, G. & Yule, G. Teaching the Spoken Language: An approach based on the analysis of conversational English (Cambridge: Cambridge U.P., 1983) Burden, P. R. Classroom Management and Discipline: Methods to Facilitate Cooperation and Instruction (New York: Longman, 1995) Dunlop, I. Practical Techniques in the Teaching of Oral English (Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell, 1970) Flanders, N., Analysing Teacher Behaviour (Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley, 1970) Gainer, G.T. ‘Clozing in on oral errors’, ELT Journal, 43/1 (1989), 45-49. Harmer, J. The Practice of English Language Teaching (Harlow: Longman, 2001) Hewings, M. Pronunciation Practice Activities: A resource book for teaching English pronunciation (Cambridge: Cambridge U.P., 2004) Link, K.E., Kreutz, R.J. & Graesser, A.C., ‘Factors that Influence the Perception of Feedback Delivered by a Pedagogical Agent’, International Journal of Speech Technology, 4 (2001), 145-153. Littlewood, W. Teaching Oral Communication: A Methodological Framework (Oxford: Blackwell, 1992) Pearson, J.C., ‘The effects of sex and sexism on the criticism of classroom speeches’, Dissertation Abstracts; Indiana University, 36 (1976), 4853-6. Sheal, P., ‘Classroom Observation: training the teachers’, ELT Journal, 43/2 (1989), 92-104. Sprague, J., ‘An investigation of the written critique behaviour of college communication instructors’. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Perdue University, 1971. (cited in Preston & Todd-Mancillas, 1985) Williams, M. & Burden, R. Psychology for Language Teachers; A Social Constructivist Approach (Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2009) Young, S.L., ‘Student Perceptions of Helpfulness in Classroom Speech Criticism’, Speech Teacher, 23 (1974), 222-234. 15