Oral corrective feedback as an effective language teaching strategy

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Pavlo Tychyna Uman State Pedagogical University (Uman, Cherkasy region, Ukraine)

Oral corrective feedback as an effective language teaching strategy

Olena Halai

Senior Lecturer at the Department of the English Language

and Methods of Teaching

Abstract

Like all other kinds of human learning, language learning involves committing errors. Errors and misunderstandings occur on a daily basis in our life. In the past years, language teachers considered errors committed by learners as something undesirable which they sought to prevent from occurring. As a result, many people have a phobia that is associated with learning a foreign language. That is why it is important to convey to students that errors are a natural part of the learning process. Scientists with different views and approaches of a foreign language teaching have different points of view regarding the correction of errors. But most researchers agree that oral corrective feedback is the most common language teaching strategy, and the means of correcting mistakes are significantfactors that affect the motivation of students and the success of a foreign language learning. This is mainly because it fixes various elements of language lessons, such as pronunciation and spelling. Oral corrective feedback is a broad field that helps teachers and students identify errors and eliminate them. The focus is on highlighting common errors and correcting them, allowing students to avoid them in the future.

Error analysis is one of the most influential theories of second language acquisition. It deals with the analysis of mistakes made by students learning a foreign language by comparing the norms acquired by students with the norms of the target language and explaining the identified errors. Corrective feedback is an approach widely used by language teachers to assess and reflect on students' errors regarding speech and pronunciation. This strategy is also used to reduce language errors, as well as to understand how students can eliminate such errors. Corrective feedback is usually described as a verbal response used by the teacher to correct the speaker's mispronunciation or utterance. It seeks to correct phonological, syntactic, semantic, or functional inaccuracies that may be present in the speaker's speech.

Moreover, many researchers believe that corrective feedback leads to the development of healthy teacher-student interaction, which is very important at language classes. Corrections in the teaching process are also considered to play a contributing and constructive role. Taking into account the purpose of teaching and keeping a number of individualfactors in mind, language teachers can use appropriate error correction techniques to create a favorable learning environment for their students.

Key words: errors, corrective feedback, error analysis, foreign language learning.

Олена Галаи, старший викладач кафедри англійської мови та методики її навчання Уманського державного педагогічного університету імені Павла Тичини (Умань, Черкаська область, Україна)

Усна корекція як ефективна стратегія навчання мови

Анотація

teacher foreign language error

Як і всі інші види навчання людини, вивчення мови пов'язане з помилками. Помилки і непорозуміння відбуваються в нашому житті щодня. У минулі роки вчителі мови розглядали помилки, допущені учнями, як щось небажане, чому вони прагнули запобігти. В результаті у багатьох людей виникає фобія, пов'язана з вивченням іноземної мови. Ось чому важливо донести до учнів, що помилки є природною частиною процесу навчання. Вчені з різними поглядами та підходами до викладання іноземної мови мають різні точки зору щодо виправлення помилок. Але більшість дослідників сходяться на думці, що усне виправлення помилок є найпоширенішою стратегією викладання мови, а засоби виправлення помилок є важливими факторами, які впливають на мотивацію учнів та успіх вивчення іноземної мови. Це відбувається головним чином тому, що в ньому фіксуються різні елементи уроків мови, такі як вимова і правопис. Усне виправлення помилок - це широка сфера, яка допомагає вчителям та учням виявляти помилки та виправляти їх. Основна увага приділяється виявленню поширених помилок та їх виправленню, що дозволяє учням уникати їх у майбутньому.

Аналіз помилок - один з найефективніших методів оволодіння другою мовою. Він пов'язаний з аналізуом помилок, які допускаються студентами при вивченні іноземної мови, шляхом порівняння засвоєних студентами норм з нормами мови, що вивчається, і включає пояснення виявлених помилок. Усна корекція - це підхід, який широко використовується викладачами іноземних мов для оцінки та осмислення помилок учнів щодо мови та вимови. Ця стратегія також використовується для зменшення мовних помилок, а також для розуміння того, як учні можуть усунути такі помилки. Усна корекція зазвичай описується як словесна відповідь, яка використовується вчителем для виправлення неправильної вимови або висловлювання мовця. Вона спрямована на виправлення фонологічних, синтаксичних, семантичних або функціональних неточностей, які можуть бути присутніми в мовленні мовця.

Крім того, багато дослідників вважають, що усна корекція призводить до розвитку здорової взаємодії вчителя та учня, що дуже важливо на уроках мови. Вважається, що виправлення в процесі навчання також відіграє і конструктивну роль. Беручи до уваги мету викладання та враховуючи ряд індивідуальних факторів, викладачі іноземних мов можуть використовувати відповідні методи виправлення помилок, щоб створити сприятливе середовище навчання для своїх студентів.

Ключові слова: помилки, корекція, аналіз помилок, вивчення іноземної мови.

Problem statement

Making mistakes and being able to leam from them are natural features of human existence. Errors and misunderstandings occur on a daily basis in our life. Therefore, instead of trying to disguise mistakes, it is important to deal with them and draw conclusions from them. As a rule, many people have a phobia that is associated with learning a foreign language, which is why it is important to convey to students that errors are a natural part of the learning process. Instead, they should be encouraged not to perceive errors as a negative thing, but as a way of mastering a language, and the opportunity to learn something new. Scientists with different views and approaches of teaching a foreign language have different points of view regarding the correction of errors, ranging from “errors should not be allowed” to “explicit error correction is useless.”

But most researchers agree that correcting mistakes in oral speech and grammar - does matter, but the means of correcting them are significant factors that affect the motivation of students and the success of learning a foreign language. A reasonable strategy for using these tools can effectively influence the improvement of students' language and writing skills.

Research analysis

The importance of errors in language learning was first investigated by Corder in 1967. He proved that the success of students learning a foreign language can be improved by analyzing their errors (Corder, 1967: 161).

The concept of “error” has many definitions. According to Lennon, an error is “a linguistic form or combination of forms which in the same context and under similar conditions of production would, in all likelihood, not be produced by the speakers' native speakers counterparts” (Lennon, 1991: 181). Corder, on the other hand, distinguishes between an error that is a performance mistake due to a random assumption, and an error related to idiosyncrasy in the student's interlanguage, which reveals the student's proficiency during training (Corder, 1967: 165).

Errors are systematic and can give an idea of language acquisition, since they are an indicator of the student's basic abilities. When native speakers make mistakes, they can immediately identify and correct them, because they know the native language structure (Scovel, 2001). However, foreign language learners are not always able to correct mistakes they make. Thus, students' errors reflect the absence of basic proficiency in the language they are learning. Recent research in Applied Linguistics highlights the importance of student's errors in teaching a second language. The major reasons for making mistakes are: simplification, re-generalization, hypercorrection, incorrect teaching, fossilization, avoidance, insufficient learning, and erroneous theoretical concepts.

Researchers in Applied Linguistics usually distinguish between two types of errors: performance errors and competence errors. Performance errors are mistakes made by students when they are tired or in a hurry. Usually, this type of error is not serious, and it can be overcome with a little effort. Competence errors, on the other hand, are more serious than performance errors, because competence errors reflect incorrect training. In this regard, it is important to note that the researchers (Gefen, 1979: 16-24) distinguish between errors that are omissions in work and errors that reflect a lack of competence.

Other researchers (Burt, Kiparsky,1978). distinguish between local and global errors. Local errors do not interfere with communication and understanding the meaning of the utterance. On the other hand, global errors are more serious than local errors, because global errors interfere with communication and disrupt the meaning of statements. Local errors are related to noun and verb cases and the use of gender, prepositions, and adjectives. For example, a global error is incorrect word order in a sentence. Finally, errors in language learning include all language components: phonological, morphological, lexical, and syntactic.

Purpose of the article

To outline the main strategies of oral corrective feedback.

Presentation of the basic material

As a rule, all the mistakes that can be made in the process of learning foreign languages can be divided into three categories: slips, errors, and attempts. (Harmer, 2001: 99). Slips are mistakes that students can correct on their own as soon as the teacher pointed out the error. They can be caused by quite peculiar and quite understandable factors, such as insufficient concentration inattention, excitement, nervousness, distraction, etc. (Hordiienko, T. Batiuta, 2016: 3).

Errors are mistakes that students cannot correct on their own and therefore require further explanation. Attempts are mistakes that students make when they try to say something, even though they don't yet know how to say it. The way we will deal with error correction depends on the fact what mistakes students make. If the student failed to understand the new information and, as a result, he continues to make mistakes, we would identify such mistakes as errors.

Another category of errors is often referred to as development errors. Such mistakes occur naturally when students' language skills develop, and are the result of students making seemingly reasonable assumptions about how the language works. (Harmer, 2007: 96). If the teacher has been working with a group of students for a certain period of time working, it will not be a problem for him to distinguish whether the student has made a slip, an error, or an attempt.

So, which is the most appropriate way to correct mistakes and how to give feedback on mistakes without compromising motivation, confidence, desire to learn, etc.? Error analysis is one of the most influential theories of second language acquisition. It deals with the analysis of mistakes made by students learning a foreign language by comparing the norms acquired by students with the norms of the target language and explaining the identified errors. The analysis of errors in teaching and learning a language is the study of unacceptable forms produced by someone who is learning a language (Crystal, 1999: 108). Error analysis refers to “the study of language ignorance, the study of what people don't know and how they try to deal with their ignorance” (James, 1998). Another definition of error analysis is given by Brown. He defined error analysis as” the process of observing the analysis and classification of deviations from the rules of a target language, as well as for identifying systems that are controlled by the student” (Brown, 2000).

Errors are associated with difficulties in the target language. They may be caused by the following factors:

Simplification: students often choose simple forms and constructions instead of more complex ones.

Overgeneralization: this is the use of a form or construction in one context and extending its application to other contexts where it isn't applied. It should be noted that simplification and overgeneralization are used by students to reduce their semantic capacity.

Hypercorrection: sometimes teachers' frequent efforts to correct their students' mistakes encourage students to make mistakes in other correct forms.

Inaccurate teaching: sometimes it happens that students' mistakes are caused by the teacher, educational materials, or the order of presentation. This factor is closely related to the hypercorrection above. It is also interesting to note that some teachers even influence students' mistakes during long-term teaching.

Fossilization: some errors, especially pronunciation errors, they persist for a long time and it becomes quite difficult to get rid of them.

Avoidance: some syntactic structures are difficult for students to understand. Consequently, these students avoid these structures and use simpler structures instead.

Inadequate learning: mainly caused by ignorance of the limitations of the rules or lack of differentiation and incomplete learning.

False theoretical errors: a lot of students' mistakes can be attributed to incorrect hypotheses formed by these students about the language they are learning.

In order to correct errors, various feedback approaches are used in teaching. Oral corrective feedback is a common language teaching strategy. This is mainly because it fixes various elements of language lessons, such as pronunciation and spelling. Oral corrective feedback is a broad field that helps teachers and students identify errors and eliminate them. The focus is on highlighting common errors and correcting them, allowing students to avoid them in the future.

Corrective feedback is an approach widely used by language teachers to assess and reflect on students' errors regarding speech and pronunciation (Zhao, 2015). This strategy is also used to reduce language errors, as well as to understand how students can eliminate such errors. Corrective feedback is usually described as a verbal response used by the teacher to correct the speaker's mispronunciation or utterance. It seeks to correct phonological, syntactic, semantic, or functional inaccuracies that may be present in the speaker's speech.

Feedback can also be provided in the form of a score or percentage that determines the student's level of achievement on a given topic. Such feedback gives students an idea of their progress and overall effectiveness in a particular topic.

However, corrective feedback is usually not evaluative, as it is usually aimed at identifying mistakes made by the student, thereby causing self-correction. They include sounds and phonetics used in a particular language and help improve students ` spoken language. Studies conducted on corrective feedback strategies and their impact on learning outcomes have yielded different results. Some of these findings are controversial, and this has led scientists to question the effectiveness of corrective feedback in promoting second language acquisition. Corrective feedback is not intended to teach the pronunciation and phonetics of a particular language, but rather to induce self-correction. This approach suggests that the application of corrective feedback should be delayed so that learners can naturally realize their mistakes that lead to self-correction. Skanavi and Nemati point out that while correcting errors can be quite important in language learning, it can have a detrimental impact on the learning progress of second-language learners (Radiah, 2019).

Repetition is another effective strategy in which the teacher repeats the student's statements, correcting mistakes. The error is detected due to the emphasis on the word.

Another common approach is requests for clarification, in which the teacher, noticing an error in a phrase or pronunciation made by the student, declares that he did not understand the meaning, so the student seeks a different explanation. This encourages the student to reconsider his pronunciation and paraphrase his statements, thus correcting the mistakes on his own.

Explicit correction is also an approach to corrective feedback, which involves pointing out a mistake made and providing a corrected version of a phrase or word. It is considered that this is one of the best corrective approaches, as it highlights mistakes and provides corrections that promote better learning among students.

The research shows that some feedback approaches improve learning of the basics of language and pronunciation. Moreover, many researchers believe that corrective feedback leads to the development of healthy teacher-student interaction, which is very important at language classes. Corrections in the teaching process are also considered to play a contributing and constructive role. Feedback on oral training can be provided by several methods, this mainly depends on the level of understanding of students, as well as the preferences of the teacher. One approach involves recording all the mistakes made by students and analyzing those mistakes throughout the class.

For example, a teacher can write correct and incorrect phrases and ask if students notice any mistakes in two sentences. This not only allows the teacher to correct students, but also serves as an assessment that allows the teacher to know the progress of students' language comprehension. According to Sermsuku,

Liamnimitru, and Pochakorn, it is important that teachers anonymously correct students who make mistakes. Identifying students who have made these mistakes can be very frustrating for students and can interfere with learning (Radiah, 2019).

Another study discusses the importance of discretion when dealing with student mistakes. According to this study, oral corrective feedback can have a negative impact on the learning process, especially when the teacher uses this approach as a way to evaluate students. For example, if a teacher notices a problem with a student's pronunciation, they should provide oral corrective feedback while acknowledging the student's efforts.

Outright reproach to students prevails over the purpose of oral feedback and negatively affects the student's learning process. Teachers should always provide insight into how the student can improve their pronunciation and written language from a neutral point of view. The process of providing oral services corrective feedback should be carried out systematically at stages where students should be given time to correct their mistakes on their own.

Oral corrective feedback should only be provided if students are unable to self-correct, and once it is provided, the teacher should have access to the level of understanding and provide all clarifications that may be required. Moreover, each of the reviews is aimed at correction of various types of errors in languages. For example, written feedback can only correct spelling and grammatical errors, while oral feedback mainly focuses on correcting pronunciation/ phonetic errors.

The effectiveness of any corrective feedback primarily depends on the student's perception, and therefore it is necessary that teachers consider students' views on feedback and error correction and integrate them into their teaching strategies to achieve optimal learning. Interval is another factor according to which scientists assume the effectiveness of oral corrective feedback. Corrective feedback should be provided within a certain period of time so that it has a positive impact on the student's learning process. This raises the question of whether corrective feedback should be provided immediately after an error is noted, after instructions are given, or students should be corrected immediately (Radiah, 2019).

Ideally, some mistakes made by language learners are developmental, which means that they are made due to a poorly developed language system. Such errors are automatically corrected when the student gets better understanding the language. This is very similar to the process of teaching toddlers their native language, when they correct their mistakes on their own, when they understand the language better. In particular, the internalization of language knowledge takes time, and therefore it is advisable to provide corrective feedback to language students only when they make irreparable mistakes.

For effective training, it is advisable to correct mistakes during the task. Research has shown that some teachers use non-systematic approaches to oral correction, which negatively affects students' language skills. Such feedback can be misleading, as it does not focus on providing the student with appropriate language skills, but instead focuses on maintaining smooth communication between the teacher and students (Zhao, 2015: 41).

Another problem that arises is that teachers sometimes ignore mistakes so as not to interrupt the communication flow. Correction, which focuses on a wide range of language learning errors, overwhelms students, thereby reducing the effectiveness of the oral correction tools provided.

The research analyzed in this article can be divided into several broad categories based on the research strategies applied to each. There are two broad categories of research approaches: quantitative and qualitative. The research contains both qualitative and quantitative information about the impact of oral corrective feedback on a student's language skills. The qualitative research used in this article mainly explains the different types of feedback and how they affect student performance. This type of study does not analyze or compare any variables, but simply explains how changes in the study are influenced by the factors under consideration (Solikhah, 2016).

Quantitative research is the most common one. This entails the use of many samples, as well as experimentation, through which the results are recorded and compared. Ideally, quantitative research approaches can be further developed they are divided into subgroups that include descriptive, correlation, quasi-experimental, and experimental methods (Radiah, 2019). There are several correction methods that can be used in the classroom:

Self-correction:

Once a student admits what is wrong in their answer, they should be able to correct it. Self-correction is the best technique, because the student will remember it better.

Peer correction:

If the student cannot correct himself, the teacher can encourage other students to correct him. This technique should be applied tactfully so that the student who initially made a mistake does not feel humiliated. In in the case of errors, it is useful if, after correcting peers, the teacher returns to the student who made the mistake and forces him to repeat the correct answer. Benefits of peer correction:

It encourages collaboration, and students get used to the idea that they can learn from each other;

Both students (who made a mistake and who corrects) participate in listening and thinking about the language;

The teacher gets a lot of important information about students' abilities - if students learn to practice peer correction without hurting each other's feelings, they will do the same in pair work. However, it may happen that when a teacher demands correction from peers from all over the class, the same students always respond. In this case, the teacher must make sure that other students are also participating.

Teacher correction:

If no one can correct it, the teacher should understand that the topic has not yet been properly studied. In this case, the teacher can re-explain the problem subject of the language, especially if the teacher sees that most classes have the same problem. The students may need more repetitions and practices. We must not forget that the main goal of correction is to make it easier for students to learn a new language subject correctly. This is why it is important that after a correction, the teacher should ask the student who first makes a mistake, give the correct answer.

Conclusion

Thus, mistakes are an integral part of the learning process, and instead of dealing with them with a heavy hand, it is important to emphasize the importance of mistakes as a step towards development. Therefore, the teacher plays a key role in the whole process. Only by changing the nomenclature from “error correction” to “language feedback” and their positive attitude can they breathe life and energy into the classroom and the learning process. It can encourage students to work through mistakes. Taking into account the purpose of teaching and keeping a number of individual factors in mind, they can use appropriate error correction techniques to create a favorable learning environment for their students.

Although the problem of proper error correction is usually quite vital and is one of the most difficult learning problems, it can still be successfully solved by applying the error prevention tools described above. An English teacher who is engaged in correcting mistakes in the classroom should make a combination of decisions that meet the needs of both strong and average students, while promoting a supportive and friendly atmosphere among all members of the academic group. The involvement of peers in the error correction process should be carried out by supporting and an encouraging way to create a successful learning environment.

Bibliography

1. Corder, S.P. (1967). The significance of Learners' Errors. IRAL, 5, 161-170.

2. Lennon, P. 1991. Error: Some Problems of Definition and Identification, in Applied Linguistic, vol. 12, num. 2, Oxford, pp. 180-195.

3. Scovel, T. (2001): Learning New Languages. Boston: Heinle and Heinle.

4. Gefen, R. (1979). The analysis of pupils' errors. English Teachers' Journal, 22, 16-24.

5. Burt, M., & Kiparsky, C. (1978). Global and local mistakes, in J. Schumann & N. Stenson (Eds.). New frontiers in second language learning. Rowley. Massachusetts: Newbury House Publishing, Inc.

6. Harmer, J. (2001). The practice of English language teaching. Harlow: Longman.

7. N. Hordiienko, T. Batiuta (2016). Mistake correction in teaching EFL. Kyiv, National Technical University of Ukraine “Kyiv Polytechnic Institute”, 8, 1-10.

8. Harmer, J. (2007). How to Teach English. Essex: Pearson Longman.

9. Crystal, D. (1999). The Penguin Dictionary of Language (2nd ed.). Penguin.

10. James, C. (1998). Errors in language Learning and Use: Exploring Error Analysis. London: Longman.

11. Zhao, W. (2015). Learners' Preferences for Oral Corrective Feedback and Their Effects on Second Language Noticing and Learning Motivation (Doctoral dissertation, McGill University Libraries), 41.

12. Solikhah, I. (2016). Oral Corrective Feedback in Speaking Class of English Department. LINGUA: Journal of Language, Literature and Teaching, 13(1), 87-102.

13. Radiah, A. (2019). Effect of Oral Corrective Feedback on Language Skills. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 9(6), 672-677.

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References

1. Corder, S.P. (1967). The significance of Learners' Errors. IRAL, 5, 161-170.

2. Lennon, P. 1991. Error: Some Problems of Definition and Identification, in Applied Linguistic, vol. 12, num. 2, Oxford, pp. 180-195.

3. Scovel, T. (2001): Learning New Languages. Boston: Heinle and Heinle.

4. Gefen, R. (1979). The analysis of pupils' errors. English Teachers' Journal, 22, 16-24.

5. Burt, M., & Kiparsky, C. (1978). Global and local mistakes, in J. Schumann & N. Stenson (Eds.). New frontiers in second language learning. Rowley. Massachusetts: Newbury House Publishing, Inc.

6. Harmer, J. (2001). The practice of English language teaching. Harlow: Longman.

7. N. Hordiienko, T. Batiuta (2016). Mistake correction in teaching EFL. Kyiv, National Technical University of Ukraine “Kyiv Polytechnic Institute”, 8, 1-10.

8. Harmer, J. (2007). How to Teach English. Essex: Pearson Longman.

9. Crystal, D. (1999). The Penguin Dictionary of Language (2nd ed.). Penguin.

10. James, C. (1998). Errors in language Learning and Use: Exploring Error Analysis. London: Longman.

11. Zhao, W. (2015). Learners' Preferences for Oral Corrective Feedback and Their Effects on Second Language Noticing and Learning Motivation (Doctoral dissertation, McGill University Libraries), 41.

12. Solikhah, I. (2016). Oral Corrective Feedback in Speaking Class of English Department. LINGUA: Journal of Language, Literature and Teaching, 13(1), 87-102.

13. Radiah, A. (2019). Effect of Oral Corrective Feedback on Language Skills. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 9(6), 672-677.

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