Abstract:
Corrective feedback (CF) has shown to be an effective way of developing learners' pragmatic awareness and subsequently pragmatic competence. However, one of the influential factors in the effectiveness of CF is teacher perceptions. On the other hand, teachers' perceptions are not always reflected in their teaching practices. Therefore, this study attempted to investigate the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers' perceptions of pragmatic corrective feedback and to compare their perception with their practice of pragmatic corrective feedback. To achieve this goal, a 44-item questionnaire was developed, piloted, and administered to 300 teachers and analyzed quantitatively in terms of the five components of the questionnaire which dealt with the teachers' perceptions of pragmatic corrective feedback. Furthermore, class recordings of 40 of these teachers were analyzed in terms of their ways of treating pragmatic errors. The findings revealed that the teachers had positive attitudes especially toward the significance of pragmatic corrective feedback, teachers' knowledge and agency about pragmatic corrective feedback and provider of CF, and the way pragmatic corrective feedback should be provided. The results, however, indicated that the teachers' instructional practice of pragmatic corrective feedback was not congruent with their perceptions toward it. The results of the study show the dissonance between teachers' perceptions and instructional practices and the need for teacher education courses for the enhancement of teachers' pragmatics instruction.
Machine summary:
Therefore, this study attempted to investigate the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers' perceptions of pragmaticcorrective feedback and to compare their perception with their practice of pragmatic corrective feedback.
g. , Lee, 2013; Li, 2010; Lyster, Saito, & Sato, 2013) have provided evidence for the influential role of corrective feedback (CF) in promoting learners' linguistic competence.
Thus, this study sought to examine the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers' perceptions about the significance of pragmatic corrective feedback and effective ways of providing such feedback.
Furthermore, in order to see how these perceptions are reflected in the teachers' classroom practices, the study examined the extent to which the teachers corrected pragmatic errors and the ways in which they provided the feedback.
g. , Alcon Soler, 2000; Hajmalek, 2011; Martinez- Flor & Uso-Juan, 2010; Omar, 1992; Takimoto, 2006; Washburn, 2001) have centered on the role of CF in the development of language learners' pragmatic ability.
As such, this study sought to investigate the EFL teachers' perceptions about different aspects of pragmatic corrective feedback provision and their actual practice of providing such feedback.
To answer the first question of the study, which addressed the perceptions of teachers about pragmatic corrective feedback, the frequencies and percentages of the teachers selecting each of the five scales for each of the 44 items of the questionnaire were calculated.
As displayed in Table 7, only 9 of the 40 teachers (coded as 4, 7, 14, 15, 17, 30, 31, 36, & 40) provided their learners with pragmatic corrective feedback.