Exploring Teachers’ Beliefs and Practices on the Use of Oral Corrective Feedback in EFL Classrooms: A Kazakhstan Perspective

Abstract

This qualitative research study focuses on oral corrective feedback practices of EFL middle school teachers in the context of Kazakhstan. Over the past several years the educational system of secondary school in Kazakhstan has been going through a number of changes. One of the most important changes is the implementation of trilingual policy in which English is the medium of instruction in English as well as science classrooms. This situation is posing considerable challenges for learners who enter NIS schools from Grade 7 (12-13 year-olds). These children get primary education in other state level or private schools. Therefore, the primary responsibility rests with the English teachers to develop knowledge and skills in English so the learners use the language successfully in other school subjects.

The classroom study results revealed that the teachers posses insufficient theoretical and practical knowledge in the use of oral corrective feedback. The teachers' knowledge about oral error correction is limited. The teachers' beliefs in oral corrective feedback and their classroom practices differed greatly. From the options given they chose prompts to be effective but stated they use recasts. However, the description of their actual corrective moves showed apparent inconsitencies in their belief-practice statements. The internal inconsistencies related mostly on environmental factors in the classroom and differed from teacher to teacher. Therefore, the study offered some recommendations for teachers in dealing with their learner errors.