Pixel International Conferences

Recent developments in online language teaching have brought to the foreground the impact of the online environment on pedagogy critical to language learning. This study is concerned with a specific feature of pedagogy – the role of feedback in the classroom. Research has examined computer-based feedback on writing (e.g., Ranalli, 2018) and to a more limited extent on spoken language (e.g., Canals et al, 2020). Little research has investigated the role of feedback on oral language in the virtual synchronous language classroom. This qualitative case study examined a) how teachers and learners engaged with feedback on language in the virtual synchronous classroom, and b) how teachers made decisions about their pedagogy related to the provision of feedback during classroom interaction. The study was carried out in four adult English language classrooms delivered online through synchronous platforms in Canada. Data was collected through classroom observation over three months of instruction to document how teachers and learners provided and responded to feedback on language in the classroom. Interviews were carried out with teachers to explore how individual differences in their professional and personal backgrounds, beliefs and expectations mediated their pedagogical decision making. Data analysis showed that both teachers and learners innovated their behaviors and strategies to support the ongoing role of feedback, but that this innovation was mediated by the various classroom contexts. The findings raise critical questions about the role of feedback in synchronous online language learning and teaching classrooms.

Language teaching; online education; feedback  

Canals, L., Granena, G., Yilmaz, Y., & Malicka, A. (2020). Second Language Learners’ and Teachers’ Perceptions of Delayed Immediate Corrective Feedback in an Asynchronous Online Setting An Exploratory Study. TESL Canada Journal, 37(2), 181–209.

Ranalli, J. (2018). Automated written corrective feedback: How well can students make use of it? Computer Assisted Language Learning, 31(7), 653-674.