Less is not more: a small-scale study of corrective feedback

Abstract

This study deals with one specific aspect of classroom interaction through an additional language: corrective feedback. By drawing on research and theories from bilingual, immersion and international contexts the study attempts to chart the grey area between corrective feedback and scaffolding, and to distil results that might be relevant across all contexts. As such, this study examines how subject teachers in an international setting correct language mistakes when interacting with students in the classroom, which types of corrective feedback are used in response to different types of errors, and which language goals can be deduced from the types of corrective feedback used. In order to find the answers to these questions, several lessons given by two international school teachers were observed, transcribed and analysed. The results show that the subject teachers focused mainly on meaning and mostly used recasts, but also used two as yet uncharted types of corrective feedback (‘confirmative’ feedback and corrective feedback in response to non-verbal language) in order to negotiate both meaning and form.