A Study Of Teacher Feedback In Junior High School English Classroom

Teacher talk is the language carrier for organization of classroom as well as the process of students’ input,which has been paid much attention from overseas and inland.As one key component of teacher talk,Nunan(1991)pointed teacher feedback is teachers’ evaluative reaction based on students’ verbal performances in class.Appropriate teacher feedback can not only provide language input for students but also prompt students’ language output while communicating in class.However,Pan Cunbing(2009)stated improper teacher feedback would be useless for students’ language learning even hinder students’ enthusiasm for language learning.Therefore,the study of teacher feedback is of significance in classroom teaching.It was in the late 1990 s that domestic researchers began to study teacher feedback.Zhao Xiaohong(1998)is the first person to study teacher feedback and she points out teachers should pay much attention to the feedback and improving quality of feedback.Researching the CNKI database with the name Teacher feedback,the author finds there are 1,183 studies,among which studies on college and senior high school teacher feedback is 856,representing 72.3%,while studies on junior high school teacher feedback is 327,representing 27.6%.Thus this paper regards teacher feedback in junior high school English classroom as the research point.It adopts Lin Zhengjun and Zhou Sha’s classification:single feedback and complex feedback and also takes Krashen’s Input Hypothesis,Krashen’s Affective Hypothesis,Long’s Interaction Hypothesis and Swain’s Output Hypothesis as theoretical bases.Employing three research instruments: classroom observation,questionnaires and interviews to answer the following questions:1.What kinds of teacher feedback do junior English teachers apply in classroom?2.What are junior English teachers’ preferences and students’ preferences towards teacher feedback?After analyzing classroom observation,teacher feedback can be known;teachers’ questionnaires and students’ questionnaires are about teachers’ preferences and students’ preferences towards teacher feedback;teachers’ interviews are about classroom teaching efficiency.After the research,there are some findings: 1.Single feedback and complex feedback adopted by two teachers in real teaching,among which the percentage of single feedback and complex feedback are respectively 71.2% and 28.9%.Compared with Lin Zhengjun and Zhou Sha’s study(single feedback and complex feedback are nearly 91% and 9%),the total percentage of single feedback is decreased and the percentage of complex feedback is greatly increased;2.The application frequency of 9-kind single feedback and 8-kind complex feedback is different,and teachers frequently apply positive feedback,repetition as well as positive+ repetition,but elicitation and modification are seldom applied;3.There exists a discrepancy between teachers’ preferences and students’ preferences;Teachers are fond of positive feedback and elicitation while students prefer specific feedback;4.The improvement of teaching efficiency is non-significant.Based on findings,there are some implications: 1.English teachers should apply more complex feedback,improving kinds of feedback;2.English teachers should take students’ preferences into consideration when applying feedback,narrowing the gap;3.English teachers should try their best to achieve the accordance between what they prefer and what they actually apply.