Chinese University EFL Learners' Corrective Feedback Decisions In Peer Interaction

Since 1980 s,peer corrective feedback(peer CF)has drawn much attention from researchers.Studies have indicated its benefits for L2 learning.However,most of the studies focused on L2 writing with fewer regarding peer oral interaction.CF in peer interaction was found to be rare,but nearly no studies have thoroughly investigated the reason.Therefore,it is of great necessity to examine the providing process of peer CF.This study examined how 40 Chinese university learners made their moment-to-moment CF decisions during peer interaction.With an Information-Gap task,the study was conducted pair by pair in the laboratory.All the participants had a peer interaction video and then an individual stimulated recall interview recorded.The main data used in this study were the stimulated recall protocols.Both quantitative analysis and qualitative analysis were adopted to investigate the CF provision at the time of peer interaction and its mediating variables.The results revealed that Chinese university EFL learners,to a low extent(37%),noticed peer errors at the time of interaction;(2)only two types of CF: explicit correction(78%)and prompt(22%)were provided by learners;(3)learner's moment-to-moment CF decision was influenced by CF receiver factors,CF provider factors,and social-contextual factors,all of which included both encouraging and discouraging factors.In each factor category,the most frequently cited factors motivating CF decision included learners' perception of understanding receivers' intention,providers' desire for a peer to hear the correct form,and the contextual time of the target event;the most commonly cited factors discouraging CF provision were worries about peer anxiety,providers' lack of knowledge,and errors not impeding communicative meaning,respectively.This research investigated the process of peer CF provision tentatively.Findings here not only offer support to peer CF influencing factors suggested in previous literature,but also reveal more new factors.They are hopeful to enlighten more empirical studies on the verification of these factors.And the frequently cited factors would supply Chinese EFL teachers with some important implications when implementing peer interaction tasks.