“You must be crazy!” Teacher Corrective Feedback and Student Uptake in Two Tanzanian Secondary Schools

Mapunda, Gastor Cosmas; Kyara, Elizabeth

doi:10.30479/jmrels.2023.18556.2188

Document Type : research paper

Authors

¹ Department of Foreign Languages and Linguistics, University of Dar es Salaam

² Department of Linguistics and Literary Studies, Open University of Tanzania, Dar es Salaam

https://doi.org/10.30479/jmrels.2023.18556.2188

Abstract

This study aimed at investigating teachers’ behaviours that co-occur with the oral corrective feedback strategies and their influence on the students’ responses to oral corrective feedback (OCF) in teaching English in Tanzanian secondary schools. In Tanzania English is a foreign language, even though it serves in various government domains such as secondary and post-secondary education, international trade, and the High Court, among others. The study was qualitative, and applied classroom non-participant observation and interviews to collect data which were analysed thematically. It involved 901 students from two secondary schools (at the general certificate level) in Form I to Form IV classes and six English language teachers. Using the the Vygotskyan Sociocultural Model, the findings of the study showed some teachers’ behaviours that frequently accompanied the oral corrective feedback strategies which then influenced students’ uptake in the classrooms. These behaviours include nonverbal actions; oral corrective feedback implementing styles, translanguaging, and the use of negative comments. These behaviours influenced students’ uptake by leading to no uptakes, hesitations in response to feedback, repetition of the same errors, random peer-responses which subsequently discouraged self-repair of errors. Findings contribute to knowledge on OCF and the students’ uptake in to ELT classrooms especially on students’ error treatment atmosphere.

Keywords

References

Amalia, Z. D. H., Fauziati, E., & Marmanto, S. (2019). Male and Female Students’ Preferences on the Oral Corrective Feedback in English as Foreign Language (EFL) Speaking Classroom. Humaniora, 10(1), 25-33. https://doi.org/10.21512/humaniora.v10i1.5248

Antón, M. (1999). The discourse of a learner‐centered classroom: Sociocultural perspectives on teacher‐learner interaction in the second‐language classroom. The Modern Language Journal, 83(3), 303-318. https://doi.org/10.1111/0026-7902.00024

Bray, L. (2012). Teacher as Foreigner in an English as a Foreign Language Classroom in Thailand. Doctoral dissertation Project Linnaeus University Sweden.

Brock-Utne, B. (2002). Language, Democracy and Education in Africa (15). Nordic Africa Institute. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-2652-1_7

Burton, J., & Rajendram, S. (2019). Translanguaging-as-resource: University ESL instructors’ language orientations and attitudes toward translanguaging. TESL Canada Journal, 36(1), 21-47. https://doi.org/10.18806/tesl. v36i1.1301

Chandler, J. (2003). The Efficacy of Various Kinds of Error Feedback for Improvement in the Accuracy and Fluency of L2 Student Writing. Journal of Second Language Writing, 12, 267-296. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1060-3743(03)00038-9

Chudowsky, N., Glaser, R., & Pellegrino, J. W. (2004). Knowing what students know: The science and design of educational assessment. National Academy. Press.

Cunningham, T.H., & Graham, C. (2000). Increasing native English vocabulary recognition through Spanish immersion: Cognate transfer from foreign to first language. Journal of Educational Psychology, 92(1), 37–49. https://doi.org/org/10.1037/0022-0663.92.1.37

Divsar, H., & Dolat pour, E. (2018). Error Management Behaviors in EFL Classrooms: Teachers’ Responses to Students’ Errors (Research Paper). Iranian Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 6(2), 86-99. Available at http://journalscmu.sinaweb.net/article

Echevarria, J., Vogt, M. E. & Short, D. (2010). Making content comprehensible to elementary English learners: The SIOP model, Pearson/Allyn & Bacon.

Ellis, R. (2007). Corrective feedback in theory, research and practice. In The 5^th International Conference on ELT in China & the 1st Congress of Chinese Applied Linguistics, May (pp. 17-20). Beijing Foreign Language Studies University, Beijing, China. Available online at http://www.celea.org.cn/2007/keynote/ppt/Ellis.pdf.

Ellis, R. (2009). Corrective Feedback and Teacher Development. L2 Journal, 1(1), 3–18. https://doi.org/10.5070/l2.v1i1.9054

Ellis, R. (2013). Corrective feedback in teacher guides and SLA. Iranian Journal of Language Teaching Research, 1(3) 1-18. Available at http://www.urmia.ac.ir/ijltr.

Ellis, R. (2017). Oral corrective feedback in language teaching: A historical perspective. Avances En Educación y Humanidades, 2(2), 7-22. https://doi.org/10.21897/25394185.1482

Ellis, R., Basturkmen, H., & Loewen, S. (2001). Learner uptake in communicative ESL lessons. Language Learning, 51(2), 281–318. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9922.00156

Faqeih, H. I. (2015). Learners’ attitudes towards corrective feedback. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 192, 664-671. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.06.101

Fungula, B. (2013). Oral Corrective Feedback in the Chinese EFL Classroom: Methods employed by teachers to give feedback to their students. Dissertation. Karlstad University. Available at http://kau.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:693017/FULLTEXT01.pdf.

Guvendir, E. (2011). The role of non-verbal behavior of teachers in providing students corrective feedback and their consequences. Sino-US English Teaching, 8(9), 577-591. Available at https://www.researchgate.net.

Halim, T., Wahid, R., & Halim, S. (2021). EFL students' attitudes toward corrective feedback: A study conducted at undergraduate level. Saudi Journal of Language Studies, 1(1), 40–49. https://doi.org/10.1108/sjls-03-2021-0004

Hattie, J., & Timperley, H. (2007). The power of feedback. Review of Educational Research, 77(1), 81–112. https://doi.org/10.3102/003465430298487

Hendrickson, J. M. (1978). Error correction in foreign language teaching: Recent theory, research, and practice. The Modern Language Journal, 62(8), 387–398. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4781.1978.tb02409.x

Herra, A., & Kulińska, A. (2018, December). The role of feedback in the process of learning English as a foreign language. In Forum Filologiczne ATENEUM (Vol. 6, No. 1, pp. 127-143). Ateneum-Akademia Nauk Stosowanych w Gdańsku.

Jiménez, R. T., David, S., Fagan, K., Risko, V. J., Pacheco, M., Pray, L., & Gonzales, M. (2015). Using translation to drive conceptual development for students becoming literate in English as an additional language. Research in the Teaching of English, 49(3), 248-271. Available at https://library.ncte.org/journals.

Lee, J. (2007). Corrective feedback and learner uptake in English immersion classrooms at the primary level in Korea. ENGLISH TEACHING (영어교육), 62(4), 311-334. https://doi.org/10.15858/engtea.62.4.200712.311

Lyster, R. & Ranta, L. (1997). Corrective feedback and learner uptake: Negotiation of form in communicative classrooms. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 19(01), 37–66. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0272263197001034

Lyster, R. (1998). Negotiation of form, recasts, and explicit correction in relation to error types and learner repair in immersion classrooms. Language learning, 48(2), 183-218. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9922.00039

Lyster, R., & Saito, K. (2010). Oral feedback in classroom SLA: A meta-analysis. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 32(2), 265-302. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0272263109990520

Lyster, R., Saito, K., & Sato, M. (2013). Oral corrective feedback in second language classrooms. Language teaching, 46(1), 1-40. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0261444812000365

Mapunda, G. 2015. “The Changing Roles of English in Tanzania: Past and Present.” In Changing Roles of English in Eastern Africa, edited by M. Michieka and Y. Elhind, (pp. 34–57). Common Ground Research Networks.

Mapunda, G. (2022). Revisiting the English-Swahili debate on Tanzania’s medium of instruction policy at secondary and post-secondary levels of education. Journal of African Languages and Literatures, (3), 1-21. https://doi.org/10.6093/jalalit. v3i3.9141

Mapunda, G., & Gibson, H. (2022). On the suitability of Swahili for early schooling in remote rural Tanzania: Do policy and practice align? Journal of the British Academy, 10(s4), 141-168. https://doi.org/10.5871/jba/010s4.141.

McDonough, K. (2005). Identifying the impact of negative feedback and learners’ responses on ESL question development. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 27(1), 79-103. doi: doi:10.1017/s0272263105050047.

Pacheco, M. B., & Miller, M. E. (2016). Making meaning through translanguaging in the literacy classroom. The Reading Teacher, 69(5), 533-537.doi:10.1002/trtr.1390.

Panova, I., & Lyster, R. (2002). Patterns of corrective feedback and uptake in an adult ESL classroom. TESOL Quarterly, 36(4), 573-595. https://doi.org/10.2307/3588241.

Qorro, M. (2006). Testing Student’s Ability to Learn through English during the Transition from Primary to Secondary Schooling. In: B. Brock-Utne et al (eds.). Focus on Fresh Data on the Language of Instruction Debate in Tanzania and South Africa. African Minds.

Rubagumya, C., Sane, E., & Ndabakurane, J. (2021). Vignette: Implementing language supportive pedagogy to support content learning in Tanzania. In Multilingual Learning and Language Supportive Pedagogies in Sub-Saharan Africa (pp. 170-174). Routledge.

Rwezaura, B. (1993). Constraining factors to the adoption of Kiswahili as a language of the law in Tanzania. Journal of African Law, 37(1), 30–45. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0021855300011098

Sebonde, R. Y., & Biseko, J. M. (2013). Handling of Morphosyntactic Learners Errors in Tanzanian English Language Classrooms. Journal of Language Teaching and Research, 4(6), 1191-1199.

Selvaraj, A. M., & Azman, H. (2020). Reframing the Effectiveness of Feedback in Improving Teaching and Learning Achievement. International Journal of Evaluation and Research in Education, 9(4), 1055-1062. https://doi.org/10.11591/ijere.v9i4.20654

Tatawy, M. El. (2012). Corrective Feedback in Second Language Acquisition. Journal of Education and Humanities, 2(2), 171–172. https://doi.org/10.7916/salt.v2i2.1645

Tibategeza, E.R. (2009). Language-in-Education Planning in Tanzania: A Sociolinguistic Analysis. A Thesis submitted for the award of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Linguistics at the University of the Free State

Tulis, M. (2013). Error management behavior in classrooms: Teachers’ responses to student mistakes. Teaching and Teacher Education, 33, 56–68. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2013.02.003

Uddin, N. (2021). Switching Between the L1 and L2: Teachers’ Corrective Feedback and Learner Uptake. The University of Memphis

Van Canh, L., & Renandya, W. A. (2017). Teachers’ English Proficiency and Classroom Language Use: A Conversation Analysis Study. RELC Journal, 48(1), 67-81. https://doi.org/10.1177/0033688217690935

Journal of Modern Research in English Language Studies

“You must be crazy!” Teacher Corrective Feedback and Student Uptake in Two Tanzanian Secondary Schools

References

References

Volume 10, Issue 4
October 2023
Pages 1-20

“You must be crazy!” Teacher Corrective Feedback and Student Uptake in Two Tanzanian Secondary Schools

References

References

Volume 10, Issue 4October 2023Pages 1-20

Volume 10, Issue 4
October 2023
Pages 1-20