Exploring Oral Corrective Feedback in the Context Of Teaching Speaking in an Indonesian Senior High School: A Case Study

Abstract

With regard to the importance of feedback in the teaching of speaking, this study explored how the English teacher of an Islamic Senior High School provides oral corrective feedback (OCF) in the context of teaching speaking. The research questions guiding this study were: (1) What types of oral corrective feedback does the English teacher provide in the teaching of speaking at the senior high school?; (2) Which types of oral corrective feedback does the English teacher most frequently use and least frequently use in the teaching of speaking at the senior high school?; (3) Why does the English teacher at the senior high school use particular forms of oral corrective feedback? This research used a case study design to explore the types of OCF, the most and the least frequent use of OCF, as well as the reasons of using the OCF. Through the case study, I could gain an in-depth understanding of such a phenomenon (Merriam, 2009). My reasons for choosing an Islamic Senior High School was that the school principal permitted me to communicate with the English teacher and the administration staff during the process of data collection. The participant was selected purposefully because the English teacher was considered to have rich information about research data. To get the research data, I did virtual and offline face-to-face observation as well as the interview. I carried out virtual observations three times (by using Zoom software), and did the offline face-to-face observation once (by visiting the classroom). After collecting and transcribing the data from virtual and classroom observation, I conducted the interview with the English teacher. The data from virtual and offline face-to-face observation were analyzed descriptively using descriptive statistics, while the data collected from interview were analyzed using thematic analysis. The result of this research showed that the types of OCF used by the English teacher include explicit correction, recast, clarification request and elicitation, while metalinguistic and repetition were not given. The most frequently used OCF was explicit correction with the highest percentage (52%, f = 26), followed by recast (38%, f = 19), elicitation (8%, f = 4) and clarification request (2%, f = 1) as the least frequently use of OCF. The English teacher had different reasons for each of the OCF given in teaching speaking. By giving explicit correction, the students were expected to recognize their errors and understand how to pronounce the words correctly and how to use an appropriate vocabulary. For recast, the English teacher felt that it did not take much time so that the English teacher could provide further material. For elicitation, the English teacher wanted to give the students the opportunity to think critically in correcting their own errors. For clarification request, it could provoke or test students whether or not they realize the errors.