Oral Corrective Feedback:Senior Secondary School EFL Teachers’ Beliefs And Their Enactment

Recent research into SLA reveals that oral corrective feedback(OCF)plays a facilitative role in the development of learners’ second language in that it directs learners’ attention to the gap between their erroneous production and the correct form in the target language,thus advancing their interlanguage towards the target language.English learners in China mainly receive CF from their EFL teachers.These teachers’ teaching practice could be influenced by their teachers’ beliefs.Accordingly,teachers’ beliefs about CF could have an impact on their behaviours of CF provision in classroom settings.On the other hand,teachers may not be able to enact their beliefs due to various potential factors.Based on the research status quo,this study explores senior secondary school EFL teachers’ beliefs about CF and their enacted practices in classroom settings.There are three research questions:1)What beliefs do senior secondary school EFL teachers hold about CF?2)What are senior secondary school EFL teachers’ enacted practices about CF in classroom settings?3)To what extent are senior secondary school EFL teachers’ beliefs about CF enacted in classroom settings? What might be the factors contributing to this extent?Altogether 103 senior secondary school EFL teachers across China participated in a questionnaire,with 3 of them as follow-up participants in classroom observations and semi-structured interviews.Analysis of both quantitative and qualitative data reveals the following findings:1)Senior secondary EFL teachers tended to believe in the effectiveness of CF.2)In regard to the timing of CF,the EFL teachers tended to favour delayed CF.3)As for the provider of CF,the EFL teachers inclined towards teachers.4)Comparison between the EFL teachers’ beliefs about CF and their actual practices in the classroom indicates that the participants’ beliefs about CF were only partially enacted.This partial enactment might be accounted for by contextual factors,teachers’ concern with students’ affective needs and the improvisational nature of CF.Based on the above findings,this study enriches the research on teachers’ beliefs about CF and their enacted practices.Also,implications for EFL teachers and teacher educators are discussed.