A Comparative Study On Expert And Novice English Teachers' Feedback In Senior High School:

As one of the most important parts in teachers' talk,teachers' feedback is of crucial importance in classroom interaction. It is not only an effective language input but also promotes students' language output. An effective teachers' feedback can reinforce students' understanding of the content they have learned and deepen the classroom teaching and learning, while the inappropriate teachers' feedback will have a negative impact on students' learning. Therefore, it goes without saying that teachers'feedback is important.Since 1970s, the West scholars have begun to systematically study the influence of classroom discourse on L2 acquisition and put forward that there is a typical IRF structure of classroom discourse. However, the majority of scholars focus on the study of feedback move, comparatively speaking, the researches on teachers' feedback are not enough. What's more, The study of teacher feedback in China started late, and there is a lack of empirical research which accounts for teachers' lack of understanding of feedback.This study is based on the Comprehensive Input Hypothesis and Interaction Hypothesis with the aim of doing a comparative study on expert and novice teachers'feedback. Three expert teachers and three novice teachers from Wuhan Foreign Languages School are chosen to be the subjects. According to the classroom observation and interview, this study is attempted to answer the following questions:(1). What are the similarities and differences between expert and novice English teachers' feedback amount in senior high school?(2). What are the similarities and differences between expert and novice English teachers' feedback types in senior high school?(3). What are the two kinds of English teachers' general perceptions of feedback and feedback habits?After the quantitative and qualitative analysis of the collected data, the author finds three conclusions: (1). on the amount of teachers' feedback, expert teachers'feedback amount exceeds that of novice teachers; (2) on the types of feedback, there exist similarities and differences on expert and novice teachers' feedback. Among the content feedback, form feedback and discoursal feedback, both expert and novice teachers are inclined to use content feedback. In content feedback, both expert teachers and novice teachers prefer to use simple positive feedback; in form feedback,expert teachers adopt negotiation of form most frequently, novice teachers have a preference to explicit correction, and in discoursal feedback, comment or expansion is the most frequently used feedback for expert teachers, while novice teachers tend to adopt comprehension check. (3) the general perceptions of teachers' feedback and feedback habits between expert and novice teachers are also different because of different teaching notion, expert teachers are skilled at combing teachers' feedback with different learning purposes and giving students more chances to practice target language,but novice teachers can't use different types of feedback flexibly due to the shortage of teaching experience.Based on the findings, the author put forward several suggestions: both expert and novice teachers should learn more theoretical knowledge and reflect on teachers'feedback; comprehensively use different types of feedback in the light of different teaching goals; increasing the amount of teachers' feedback as well as enriching the types of feedback.In conclusion, only through the comparative study on expert and novice teachers'feedback can we better understand the current situation and problems of teachers'feedback in senior high school so as to improve teachers' feedback techniques as well as provide empirical evidences for researches on teachers' feedback. For novice teachers, this comparative study will help them learn more knowledge on teachers'feedback and promote their professional development.