Features of Corrective Feedback Leads to Form-Focused Instruction

Abstract

Language teaching methodologies in the history of language teaching paradigms have often shifted between deductive and inductive methods concerning instructional pedagogies. Previous studies suggest that most language classrooms are based on Form-Focused Instruction (FFI) in delivering the teaching instructions in the classroom. This study focuses on the features of corrective feedback by eight ESL teachers in Sri Lankan English as a Second Language (ESL) classrooms at the tertiary level. Error correction in ESL classes has been a focal phenomenon in Second Language classrooms. Corrective feedback provides attention to language forms by reinforcing the grammatical areas and helping learners acquire the grammatical rule of a language. The target group of this study is the first-year students from the Faculty of Arts and Culture, the South Eastern University of Sri Lanka, who were placed in three proficiency groups. This study mainly integrates the classroom observation and transcription of the classroom recordings to examine the discourse features of corrective feedback in ESL classrooms. The study is related to the conceptual framework, including the discourse features analyzed in this study. The observation protocol of this study is based on the observation of classroom teaching while using an observation scheme to moderate the data analysis. The findings of this study suggested some of the persuasive features of corrective feedback in Sri Lankan ESL classrooms. The findings of this study revealed that reformulation and direct feedback are the most frequent error correction techniques used by ESL instructors in Sri Lankan ESL classrooms at the tertiary level. However, the error correction mechanisms have been used according to the student’s language proficiency level and the ESL instructors teaching pedagogy. Thus, this study provided insights into error correction features at the South Eastern University of Sri Lanka. Further comparative studies can be done to analyze the features of error correction strategies used by ESL instructors at the tertiary level.