Exploring the effects of teachers’ and learners’ beliefs: The scarcity of corrective feedback during uncontrolled EFL classroom interactions

Abstract

Extensive research literature suggests that corrective feedback (CF), when effective, has a beneficial impact on the development of learners' interlanguage. This is because CF provides learners with language data concerning the correctness of their utterances and thus pushes their oral production towards greater clarity, accuracy and comprehensibility. However, CF has been found to be considerably scarce during classroom interactions. In an attempt to understand its scarcity, the present study investigates the interplay between the amount of CF provided by teachers and learner peers and the effects of their beliefs during uncontrolled classroom interactions at a Mexican university. By combining data collected from recorded classroom interactions, teacher interviews and learner focus groups, the findings show that there was a considerable number of errors which were avoided and not corrected by the teachers and learners during the classroom interactions. The findings also suggest that the scarcity of CF was in response to the teachers' and learners' conflicting beliefs about CF. This study provides a great opportunity to direct research towards the effects of No. 15 (July -December, 2017) 126 teachers' and learners' beliefs on providing and receiving CF during classroom interactions, and find ways through which a socio-affective climate can be promoted in the language classroom in order to facilitate the provision of CF.Keywords: accuracy, classroom interactions, corrective feedback, English as a foreign language, teacher and learner beliefs ResumenUn gran número de investigaciones han argumentado que la retroalimentación correctiva es de beneficio para el desarrollo del interlenguaje de los estudiantes. Esto se debe a que dicha retroalimentación facilita información sobre la precisión de sus estructuras lingüísticas y promueve que su producción oral sea más clara, precisa y comprensible. Sin embargo, estudios empíricos han encontrado que la retroalimentación correctiva es considerablemente escasa durante interacciones en el salón de clase. Con la intención de entender su escasez, el presente estudio indaga sobre la relación entre la cantidad de retroalimentación correctiva (facilitada por maestros y estudiantes) y sus creencias en salones de clase de una universidad mexicana. Al combinar datos recolectados de interacciones en salones de clase, entrevistas con maestros y grupos focales con alumnos, los resultados corroboran que hubo un número considerable de errores que no fueron atendidos y corregidos por los maestros y estudiantes durante las interacciones. Los hallazgos también sugieren que la escasez de la retroalimentación correctiva se debe a la influencia de sus creencias. Este estudio presenta una gran oportunidad de dirigir esfuerzos para investigar los efectos de las creencias de los maestros y estudiantes en la provisión de la retroalimentación correctiva y para encontrar alternativas que promuevan un ambiente socioafectivo en el salón de clase que permita la provisión efectiva de la retroalime...