A Descriptive Study of corrective discourse in Turkish preparatory school EFL clasrooms

Abstract

Thesis Committee Members: Dr. Linda Laube, Dr. Ruth A. Yontz, Bilkent University, MA TEFL Program Error treatment is of fundamental concern to classroom research as it presents a universal and permanent problem for teachers in all language classrooms. The present study investigated oral corrective discourse in Turkish preparatory EFL classrooms at BUSEL, Bilkent University, Ankara, Turkey. It was a descriptive case study which took a naturalistic enquiry approach. This study was classroom-centered and was carried out within the framework of a discourse analysis tradition (Chaudron, 1977). The main focus was on the corrective feedback provided by two Turkish EFL teachers to four classes comprising seventyfour Turkish EFL students. The study employed a comprehensive strategy of data and methodological triangulation, namely, classroom observation, teachers' interviews, and students' ques tionnaires. It considered a number of research questions. The first research question concerned the way oral errors were treated in the Turkish EFL classes. The study revealed that both Turkish EFL teachers exhibited a particular corrective feedback profile in their classrooms, with acceptance (showing acceptance of students' erroneous responses), and ignore (ignoring students' erroneous responses) corrective reactions being the most frequent ones, thus exemplifying non-intervention when their students committed an oral language error. The second research question regarded the EFL teachers ' actual corrective feedback provided to the students and their stated preferences for errror treatment. The teachers' actual corrective feedback showed that their concern for oral production and communication overrode concern for linguistic errors, which agreed with their expressed preferences for error treatment. The third research question pertained to the EFL students ' preferences for the amount and type of corrective feedback. The Turkish students preferred to be corrected more often than their teachers assumed,and indicated low or no preference for those corrective reactions (acceptance and ignore) which were frequently used by their teachers. However, both EFL teachers also employed those corrective strategies which were identified as mostly preferred by their students. The fourth research question related the Turkish students' preferences for corrective feedback and the EFL teachers' actual error treatment in the setting. The study demonstrated a small degree of agreement between the Turkish students' preferences and the EFL teachers' decisions for providing corrective feedback. The Turkish students indicated that they wanted to be corrected more than their teachers did correct or assumed they should correct. Both EFL teachers considered semantic errors the most important to treat while their students expressed preference for other types of errors. However, the Turkish students shared their teachers ' preferences for the corrective strategies employed in their classes.