GIVING ORAL FEEDBACK

IN LANGUAGE
CLASSROOM

National Foreign Language Project - 2020

OUTLINE

1
Introduction

2
Oral feedback types

3
Oral feedback techniques

4
Error correction
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WARM-UP
Watch the following video and discuss what’s wrong with
the teacher’s feedback

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1. Introduction: oral feedback
any kind of information
1 that learners receive
about their
performance/of peers.
Assessment + correction

2 Corrective feedback–
focusing a learner’s
attention on errors
non-corrective - in the
form of praise

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 MEANINGFUL FEEDBACK

We will show assessment methods and ways to communicate results

to students that:

Are valid

Fit students’ backgrounds

Are understandable

Communicate high expectations

Lower emotional barriers

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 FEEDBACK # NOT
JUDGEMENTS/PERSONAL
COMMENTS
MAKE IT FOCUSED
Too ugly

Too bad
Terrible

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 What do you think of the drawings and the
oral feedback?
First of all, I don't even
1 know what this is. If it's
supposed to be a dog, then it's
the shittiest dog I've ever
seen. Mark: F
2 Holy shit, I almost had a
seizure when I saw this one.
Three words: too many
colors. Also, eggs aren't
supposed to have ears,
dipshit. Mark: F

3
Terrible. Mark: F

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ORAL FEEDBACK GOAL

 Description – NOT Judgement

Corrective feedback can be harmful to language
acquisition (no demonstrable gains in grammar
accuracy, negatively impact on learners’ feeling.

Helpful feedback vs. criticism

–When to give feedback

–How to give feedback
–What kind of feedback to give

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Discussion
1 Should feedback be immediate or delayed?

2 Which errors should the teacher correct?

3 Which techniques should the teacher use?

4 When to give oral feedback?

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Should feedback be
immediate or delayed?
■ Immediate -> right vs. wrong (knowledge of facts)
■ Delayed -> more comprehensive review of students thinking and
processing
■ As often as it is practical
■ When it would make a difference to students
■ Major assignments

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Which errors should the
teacher correct?
1 Prioritizing your feedback

2 Choosing points relating to your learning

goals and success criteria

3 Considering the developmental level of

the student
4 Amount of feedback

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Which techniques should
the teacher use?
■ Interactive feedback -> oral feedback
whenever possible (one on one, in front of
groups/whole class)
■ Oral quick comments (for oral work,
presentations, etc.,)
■ Written for written work
■ Visual/demonstrations when ‘how to do
something’ is an issue, and when the Ss needs
an example.
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Giving feedback individually
or in group/class
■ Individual feedback -> sounds like
‘teachers value individual work’.
■ Group/class feedback -> the majority of Ss
make the same mistakes, miss the same
concept -> an opportunity for teaching.

(timely fair feedback -> important)

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2. Oral feedback types
1- Clarification requests (implicit): e.g., ‘I don’t
understand’, ‘I beg your pardon’

2- Elicitation (implicit): e.g., ‘I can see a

rhinoceros’ – ‘no, it’s a…. (hippopotamus)’

3- Repetition (implicit): e.g., ‘I goed to the

circus yesterday’ – ‘Goed’?

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Oral feedback types (cont.)
4- Recast (implicit/explicit): e.g., ‘I go to the
circus yesterday’ – ‘Oh, you went to the circus
yesterday’

5- Metalinguistic feedback (explicit): e.g., ‘Me

and my mom go to the circus yesterday’ – ‘Use
past tense in your sentence’

6– Explicit correction: e.g., ‘I goed to the circus

yesterday’, ‘No, no goed- went’
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 Handout 1
Task: identify feedback techniques from the situations
(1) T: Did you have a good weekend? How was your weekend?
■S: Very good teacher, I SEE a great movie
■T: ah ok, it is not SEE, I SAW a great movie
■S: I SAW a great movie
■T: Ok
…………..
(2) T: Did you have a good weekend? How was your weekend?
■S: Very good, teacher, I SEE a great movie
■T: ah ok, but we talk about weekend it’s the past, we have to use
the verb in the past, what is it?
■S: mm…see, I…I..SAW a great movie
■T: excellent! Correct, ok.

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 (3)
T: ok guys we are talking about movies, how often you go to the
movies
S: I go to the movie two times a month
T: ah, you say you go to the movie…. ?
S: TWICE a month
T: ok
……………
(4)
T: ok guys talking about movies, how often you go to the movies
S: Three
T: three what?
S: three TIMES
T: ah ok very good

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(5)
T: ok guys we are talking about movies, how often you go to the
movies
S: I go to the movie two times a month
T: two times…. ?
S: TWICE a month
T: ok
………
(6)
T: Did you have a good weekend? How was your weekend?
S: Very good teacher, I SEE a great movie
T: ah ok, you…..?
S: I SAW a great movie
T: Ok

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3. Giving feedback strategies

■ Using praises
■ Highlighting accurate language use instead of errors
■ Planning the monitoring of speaking activities
■ Adopting a supportive manner
■ Encouraging positive feedback from peers
■ Showing interest in the content of what students have said

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3.1. Using praise
■ Praise is more effective when it is specific.
■ But DON’T OVERPAISE/flatter/fuss
■ Start with praises then prompts about what is done well, the
strengths, the improvements, rewards
■ Followed by negative feedback (general criticism, punishments
but constructive on what Ss could do about)

-> Increasing motivation and fostering positive attitudes to learning

(Ellis & Shintani, 2013: 250)
-> Least effective when it is general (such as praise for having
completed a task), because it does not provide any information
which learners can use to further their learning (Hattie, 2009:
175).

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 – Give sincere praise regarding a specific area of
development
– Provide frequent and understandable feedback
– Focus on what the students can do rather than
what they cannot
– Provide ample response time
– Provide tasks to challenge the students

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Negative feedback

This affects the validity of the assessment

“Sometimes when I speak English in class, I am so

afraid I feel like hiding behind my chair.” 1
“I feel like my French teacher is some kind of
Martian death ray: I never know when he’ll point at
me!” 1
“When I’m in my Spanish class I just freeze! I can’t
think of a thing when my teacher calls on me. My
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3.2. Highlighting accurate and
appropriate language use, rather than
indicating errors
■ Feedback on correct responses is more effective than feedback on
incorrect responses (Hattie, 2009: 175).
■ Confirming that a student has produced accurate and appropriate
language in a particular instance (e.g. avoiding a very common
mistake) is likely to benefit both the individual student and others in
the class, who will have their attention drawn to the language item
in question (Ur, 2012: 91).
■ Corrective feedback may also have more impact if mixed with
positive reinforcement.
■ they should mix up examples of errors and good language use. The
students’ first task is to identify the examples of good language use.

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3.3. Planning the monitoring of
speaking activities
■ Teachers should decide, in advance of the activity, that for some
groups they will focus on the content and for others they will
focus on examples of accurate or appropriate language use.

 This will facilitate the giving of positive delayed feedback

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3.4. Adopting a supportive
manner
■ The potential for anxiety will be reduced if teachers
maintain a tactful, supportive and sensitive manner in any
intervention during or after a speaking activity.

 Modeling good listening skills, including appropriate body

language, nods, gestures and confirming
expressions
(e.g. 'Right', 'Uh-huh')

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3.5. Encouraging positive
feedback from peers
■ At the end of a pair or group work activity, students can be
asked to tell their peers one or more things that they
did well.

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 Peer feedback
advantages
■ Allows for more immediate feedback

■ Can provide a different kind of feedback than

traditional teacher feedback (less authoritarian)

■ Provides students experience

with critical evaluation that can
transfer to their own work

■ Encourages life skills such as collaboration and communication

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Concerns

■ Peer feedback may be inconsistent with teacher feedback.

■ ELLs may not feel comfortable giving feedback in their L2.
■ Stronger language speakers may resent receiving
feedback from weaker ELLs.
■ Shy or reserved students may be uncomfortable with the
exercise.

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 Coaching Students in
Providing Effective Feedback
■ Explain benefits of peer feedback

■ Class discussion of the role of students (collaborators, not

correctors), purpose of activity

■ Practice and application

■ Discussion of benefits, weak points, overall success

(Rollinson, 2005, pp. 3-7)

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3.6. Showing interest in the content of
what students have said

■ ‘That was an original idea’, ‘I’d never thought of that’

■ ‘X was saying something interesting about Y, but I didn’t

catch all of it – could you tell us again?’

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3.7. Giving clear feedback

■ Use vocabulary and concepts that the student will understand

■ Tailor the amount and content of feedback to each student’s
developmental level
■ Check that the student understands the feedback (have them
paraphrase)

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3.8. Comparing

■ to the learning goals/success criteria

■ to other students’ work
■ to students’ past performance

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Feedback = FAST

■ F = Fair
■ A = Accurate
■ S = Specific
■ T = Timely

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Giving feedback that supports students’
communicative successes
 The role of feedback in the Initiation–
Response–Feed pattern of classroom talk
Teacher: Who’s this? [I]
Student: The alien. But she don’t know yet. [R]
Teacher: Don’t? She doesn’t know yet. Third person
singular. Don’t forget. DOESN’T. Okay? [F] Try again? [I]

 Feedback must be aligned sensitively with

the goal of creating a safe speaking
environment

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Handout 2

Guide to Implementation (Alberta Education, 2007, P. 161)

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■ SOLOM: Student Oral Language Observation Matrix (Cabral, Herrera, & Murry, 2007)
Discussion
Task: how far you agree with the
following various statements?

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 4. Error Correction
■ Selective correction: choose several major patterns of error, rather
than all types of errors.

■ Comprehensive correction: give detailed feedback, so that

students are not misled about correctness if the teachers do not
address all errors.

■ Direct Feedback: teachers repeat the correct form instantly

■ Indirect Feedback: allows the student to engage in guided

problem-solving

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Correcting mistakes in oral
work
Would you support the recommendation to refrain from
correcting during fluency-oriented speech, and to do so
only during accuracy-oriented exercises?

Can you add any further comment?

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Modes of giving oral feedback

■ Face to face
■ Audios/records
■ Videos

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Your personal attitudes?

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References
Ferris, D. R. (2002). Treatment of Error in Second Language Student Writing. Ann Arbor, MI:
University of Michigan Press.
Gardner, R. C. (1991). Language Anxiety: From Theory and Research to Classroom Implications.
Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Genesee, F., & Upshur, J. A. (1996). Classroom-Based Evaluation in Second Language Education.
Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Glew, Paul J. (1998). Verbal interaction and English second language acquisition in classroom contexts.
Issues in Educational Research, 8(2), 1998, 83-94. Nepean: University of Western Sydney.
Gronlund, N. E. (2004). University of Alberta: Assessment of Student Achievement (2nd ed.). Boston,
MA: Pearson Education.
Nunan, D. (2004). Task-Based Language Teaching. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Principles for Fair Student Assessment Practices for Education in Canada. (1993). Edmonton, AB:
Joint Advisory Committee.
As reproduced in Gronlund, N. E. (2004). University of Alberta: Assessment of Student
Achievement (2nd ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education.
Shanahan, M. (Fall, 2007). Formative Assessment Through Science Notebooks. University of Alberta:
Curriculum & Instruction in Elementary School Science, EDEL 330.

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 THANK YOU FOR
YOUR ATTENTION!

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