Factors influencing oral corrective feedback provision in the Spanish foreign language classroom: Investigating instructor native/nonnative speaker status, SLA education, & teaching experience

The role of interactional feedback has been a critical area of second language acquisition (SLA) research for decades and while findings suggest interactional feedback can facilitate SLA, the extent of its influence can vary depending on a number of factors, including the native language of those involved in communication. Although studies have found differences in the ways native (NS) and non-native speakers (NNSs) provide feedback, most have compared non-teaching individuals outside of the classroom the few comparing NS and NNS language instructors have been largely limited to the English as a Second Language (ESL) setting, have typically measured teaching differences indirectly via questionnaires, and focused on topics other than feedback. Two studies have begun to explore additional instructor individual difference (ID) factors, education and experience, in relation to feedback provision in ESL learning contexts (Mackey, Polio, & McDonough, 2004 Polio, Gass, & Chapin, 2006). However, to date there has been no thorough examination of instructor ID factors in relation to naturally occurring feedback in the foreign language (FL) classroom.The current study sought to amplify this minimal research by investigating three instructor ID factors .. NS/NNS status, SLA education, and years of teaching experience .. in the same study. Using quantitative and qualitative data gathered from 60 Spanish FL instructors, the study investigated (a) the amount and type of feedback instructors provide during a 50-minute lesson, (b) if they differ regarding the factors they take into account while making in-class feedback decisions, and (c) if these differences are related to the aforementioned ID factors. This dissertation also examined whether instructors' feedback beliefs correspond with their in-class provision, and whether there were belief differences relating to instructor NS/NNS status, SLA education or teaching experience.Analyses revealed that in-class feedback provision was significantly related to each of the ID factors. However despite these behavioral differences instructors did not differ in their beliefs thus, there were few significant relationships between beliefs and corresponding practices. Finally, data from 35 stimulated recall protocols shed light on the nature of these differences and how instructor ID factors influence their beliefs and in-class feedback decisions.