| This study was a qualitatively-dominant investigation, combining both qualitative and quantitative procedures. The purpose of this study was to discover what types of feedback and error treatment better facilitates college students' oral foreign language learning. Subjects were students learning English in Taiwan. Through screening interviews, three professors responsible for teaching specific college oral English classes were purposefully selected from two different universities in Taiwan. Three different classes taught by the professors were observed on an ongoing basis during one semester of instruction.; Three different types of data were collected in this research, including: (a) transcribed interviews of professors, (b) statistical results regarding feedback types as well as college students' uptake and repair moves, and (c) multi-faceted data sources from classroom observations. The qualitative methodology of grounded theory was employed in the generation of a theory regarding professors' perceptions of instructional practices' effectiveness. Frequency distributions of feedback types and their comparative effectiveness were also analyzed.; The findings of this research revealed first that professors' perceptions of their instructional approaches matched closely the observed behaviors in their classrooms; consequently, professors are self-aware. Classroom observations revealed that these oral English professors tended to employ most often indirect and implicit types of feedback, believing these approaches better insofar as they prevented student frustration the professors had noted when using direct or explicit corrections. However, the results of this study concluded that direct and explicit feedback actually prompted a higher percentage of both uptake moves and repair moves from the learners. Therefore, language professors must become aware of the discrepancy between their perceptions of the effectiveness of instructional approaches and the actual effectiveness of their teaching methods. Thus, they should more often utilize methods with proven results. |
