The Roles Of Different Types Of Negative Feedback On Interlanguage Development

Interlanguage is a kind of transitional language.It comes closer to the right forms of its target language in learning process.Second language study is a continuous procedure of reconstructing and perfecting the interlanguage system.In recent twenty years, an increasing number of scholars have realized negative feedback can impact greatly on interlanguage development.With further research, they believe that appropriate negative feedback can work as an effective teaching strategy in English learning.Proper negative feedback can correct the irregular parts in learners’interlanguage systems,which also contributes to the improvement of their language habits and the development of their language competences.Mainly based on the theoretical framework of six negative feedback types proposed by Lyster, this thesis intends to study the following aspects:the teachers’and students’views on negative feedback and their preferences for some specific types; the current situation of negative feedback usage in English classrooms (including the subject, timing and principles to provide feedback; the proportion and frequency of each type);the correcting effectiveness of each type on students’interlanguage;the factors that may affect teachers’and students’ choices on different types of negative feedback. Data are obtained through the instruments including questionnaire, follow-up interview and classroom observation.95non-English majored students and4teachers are selected as the subjects in this study.The major findings are:both the two sides of teachers and students hold that it is necessary to provide negative feedback in foreign language learning.However, they have their own views when ranking the different types according to their preferences. Besides, different types of negative feedback lead to different correcting effectiveness on students’interlanguage. The results also reveal several factors that may influence teachers’choices of different feedback types, such as their teaching strategies and consideration of the learners’personal differences.A few pedagogical suggestions are summed up in the final section of this paper. In accordance with the actual teaching situation, students’characteristics and emotional factors,teachers should adjust the feedback types timely. Moreover, to initiate and enhance students’ self-learning ability, teachers should give them some hints or sufficient time to think, and inspire the students themselves to notice and modify their interlanguage errors.English teachers can also use a combination of different feedback patterns to improve the correcting effectiveness instead of relying on a single one.Accordingly, the present study can provide some guidance for the implementation of effective negative feedback in English teaching.