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Communicative Practice
Corrective Feedback in the Conversation Class

Presented by Rachel Gamarra

Arlington Reads
City of Arlington Public Library
English Conversation Circles
At the Literacy House in Arlington, TX.
www.arlingtonlibrary.org/calendar
Literacy/Tutoring
 Frequently Asked Questions

 Should learners' errors be corrected?

 When should learners' errors be corrected?
 Which errors should be corrected?
 How should errors be corrected?

 Who should do the correcting?

*Questions originally framed by J.M. Hendrickson in 1978.
 Frequently Asked Questions

1. Should learners' errors be corrected?

• Nativists – students’ errors should never be
corrected, because it is damaging to their self-
esteem
• Behaviorists – students’ errors should always be
corrected in order for students to attain full
proficiency.
 Frequently Asked Questions

2. When should learners' errors be corrected?

• Should the error be corrected immediately?
• Should the error be corrected at the end of class?
3. Which errors should be corrected?
• Grammar?
• Vocabulary?
• Pronunciation?
• All errors?
 Frequently Asked Questions

4. How should errors be corrected?

• What type of corrective feedback do you give to
the student?
5. Who should do the correcting?
• The teacher?
• Peers?
• The student who makes the error?
Theoretical Rationale for Corrective Feedback

 Output Hypothesis (Swain): “[Output opportunities]

can help learners to make and test hypotheses
about linguistic correctness and to develop
metalinguistic knowledge of how the L2 works.”

 Noticing Hypothesis (Schmidt): “Noticing is a

prerequisite of learning…conscious attention must
be paid to input in order for L2 learning to
proceed.”
 Explicit vs. Implicit Feedback

 “Corrective feedback differs in terms

of how implicit or explicit it is. In the
case of implicit feedback, there is no
overt indicator that an error has been
committed, whereas in explicit
feedback types, there is.” (Ellis, et. al.)
Types of Corrective Feedback
1.Explicit Correction
2.Recasts
3.Clarification Requests
4.Metalinguistic Feedback
5.Elicitation
6.Repetition
 Explicit Correction
 Giving the correct form to learners and
telling them what they said was incorrect.
 Example:
STUDENT: I hurted my foot.
TEACHER: No, not hurted – hurt.
 Recasts

 Teacher rephrases the student’s utterances

to eliminate errors.
 Example:
STUDENT: You can count with me!
TEACHER: You can count on me!
 Clarification Requests

 Teacher indicates to the student that they

didn’t understand what the student said.
 Example:
STUDENT: I go my yob.
TEACHER: Pardon?
 Metalinguistic Feedback
 Commenting or asking questions about the
form of the student’s utterances without
explicitly correcting it.
 Example 1:
STUDENT: He like to eat Pizza.
TEACHER: Do we say “he like?”
 Example 2:
STUDENT: My favorite movie is ‘Rebél without a
Cause.’
TEACHER: Is it “Rebél” or “Rébel?”
 Elicitation

 Techniques used to get the student to produce the

correct form, either by completing the teacher’s own
restatement, asking the student questions about how
something should be said, or asking students to repeat
utterances in a reformulated version.
 Example 1:
TEACHER: My name _____....
STUDENT: is.
 Example 2:
TEACHER: How do we use the verb ‘to be’ in the
present tense, 3rd person singular?
 Repetition

 Teacher repeats back the incorrect

utterance with rising intonation or emphasis
so that student knows which part is in need
of repair.
 Example:
STUDENT: I half three childrens.
TEACHER: I half three childrens?
 Effective Forms of Feedback

 Metalinguistic
 Elicitation
 Clarification Requests
 Teacher Repetition of Errors
 These types of feedback encourage students
to be cognizant of their error(s) and self-
correct.
 Ineffective Forms of Feedback
 Recasts
Lyster and Ranta report that recasting was
ineffective in getting students to repair their own
speech, since students may find recasts as
ambiguous or they may not know if the teacher is
responding to the content or the form of what they
said.

 Intensive recasts may be beneficial for more

advanced ESL learners engaged in conversational
exchanges.
TABLE 1. NUMBER AND PERCENTAGE OF REPAIRS ATTRIBUTED TO EACH
FEEDBACK TYPE
Student-Generated
Feedback Type All Repairs (n = 184)
Repairs (n = 100)

Recast (n = 375) 66 (36%) 0

Elicitation (n = 94) 43 (23%) 43 (43%)

Clarification request (n =
20 (11%) 20 (20%)
73)
Metalinguistic feedback (n
26 (14%) 26 (26%)
= 58)

Explicit correction (n = 50) 18 (10%) 0

Repetition (n = 36) 11 (6%) 11 (11%)

(Lyster & Ranta, 1997)

 
The Conversation Class
How to Integrate Effective Feedback
 Content vs. Form

 Content – meaning or message.

 Form – correct usage of grammar.
 Content vs. Form

Questions to ask yourself:

1. Is it an activity or is it an exercise?
• Focus on content for activities.

• Focus on form for exercises.

2. What is the objective?

• “What if” scenarios?

• Grammar practice?
 Feedback Strategies

1. Condition your students for the type of feedback

they will receive.
2. The type of feedback should match or complement
the activity.
3. Feedback should be appropriate to the student’s
level of proficiency.
4. Self-correction, peer-correction, teacher-correction.

5. Learner-centered approach.
 Feedback Strategies (Tedick, Gortari)
 “Practice a variety of feedback techniques. Good
teachers understand that one size does not fit all.
Individual learners may well differ in terms of the
particular error correction technique most
appropriate for their unique language development
needs.”
 “Choosing to learn and use a few different types of
feedback that seem to produce student-generated
repairs increases your chance of reaching more
students.”
 Feedback Strategies (Tedick, Gortari)
 “Consider the context in which student language
use and errors occur.”

 “Students in the early stages of cognitive

development and language acquisition need to be
encouraged to produce language that
communicates meaning.”

 “Error correction techniques that require student

reflection on language structures or vocabulary are
not appropriate for learners in those early stages.”
 Feedback Strategies (Tedick, Gortari)
 “Focus on the learner—it's important to let the
learner self-correct. Remember that your students
may…be more capable than you think!”

 “If we allow time and provide appropriate cues for

the learner to self-repair, more often than not the
student will come through.”

 “The least effective technique for correcting a

student's incorrect language…is to simply give them
the answer.”
 FAQ Revisited

1. Should learners' errors be corrected?

• Yes! Don’t allow mistakes to become fossilized.

2. When should learners' errors be corrected?

• Constant interruptions will raise the student’s

affective filter. Revisit common errors if
necessary and focus on form.
 FAQ Revisited

3. Which errors should be corrected?

• Beginners – errors of content (meaning).
• Advanced – errors of form (grammar).
4. How should errors be corrected?
• Practice a variety of different feedback techniques.
There is not a “one-size fits all” answer.
5. Who should do the correcting?
• Student  Peer  Teacher.
Works Cited

Ellis, Rod, Shawn Loewen, and Rosemary Erlam. "IMPLICIT AND EXPLICIT
CORRECTIVE FEEDBACK AND THE ACQUISITION OF L2 GRAMMAR." Studies in
Second Language Acquisition 28.2 (2006): 339-68.

Omaggio Hadley, Alice. "Developing Oral Proficiency." Teaching Language in

Context. 3rd ed. Boston: Heinle & Heinle, 2001. 263+. Print.

Rezaei, Saeed, Farzaneh Mozaffari, and Ali Hatef. "Corrective Feedback in SLA:
Classroom Practice and Future Directions." International Journal of English
Linguistics 1.1 (2011): 21.

Tedick, D. and Gortari, B. (1998). Research on Error Correction and

Implications for Classroom Teaching. The Bridge, ACIE Newsletter. Center for
Advanced Research on Language Acquisition, University of Minnesota, v1.
[Online] http://www.carla.umn.edu/immersion/acie/vol1/May1998.pdf
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