Astudy On Teacher Feedback In Junior High School English Classroom

In English classes,teacher talk is not only a tool for organizing the class but also a major source of comprehensible input for students.Teacher feedback,as a part of teacher feedback,has a profound impact on both teachers’ teaching and students’ learning.To understand the use of teacher feedback,and to improve the quality of teacher feedback,this study attempts to investigate the feedback of junior high school English teachers.Based on the above research background,this study posed three research questions:(1)What are the types of teacher feedback frequently used in junior high English classes?(2)What is teachers’ attitude towards teacher feedback?(3)What is students’ attitude towards teacher feedback?To explore the three research questions,this study adopts a qualitative method to conduct classroom observation and interviews.Three English teachers of Grade 7 and40 students who received teacher feedback in Shandong Province were taken as the participants of the study.This study mainly adopts classroom observation tables and interview outlines as the main tools for collecting data.The research audio-recorded and transcribed a total of 12 classes of three teachers and interviewed several students who received teacher feedback after each class,and interviewed each teacher at the end of the observations.This study has the following findings: 1.teachers are able to provide abundant feedback in English classes.Junior high school English teacher feedback can be divided into 11 types of single feedback and 9 types of complex feedback.Among them,positive feedback and repetition are used most frequently in single feedback;positive feedback plus repetition is most frequently used in complex feedback.2.teachers have preferences in using the feedback.When students answer correctly,teachers tend to use positive feedback;when students answer incorrectly,teachers use explicit correction,metalinguistic feedback,and elicitation most often;when students fail to answer the question,teachers use “give answer directly” and “ask another student” most often.3.students also show their preference for teacher feedback.When answering correctly,they expect specific positive feedback from teachers;when answering incorrectly,they want the teacher to provide metalinguistic feedback and elicitation,and prefer to receive encouraging words;when not answering the question,they prefer the teacher’s encouragement and reassurance first.The teacher giving answers directly and waiting for their answers are also their preferred ways.According to the above findings,this study concludes that current junior high school English teachers can recognize the important role of teacher feedback and utilize it.However,there are still some things could be improved.Therefore,the author makes the following suggestions: 1.use different kinds of teacher feedback and enhance the specificity of teacher feedback.2.dig deeper and pay attention to the content of students’ expressions.3.link feedback to individual students and provide differentiated feedback based on their personalities.4.increase the use of encouraging and comforting words.5.do self-reflection frequently.