How English teachers’ corrective feedback practices can promote second language acquisition in Intermediate Phase classrooms in South Africa: A case study

Abstract

In South Africa, many non-native Englishspeaking learners experience a variety of language challenges in classrooms and, as a result, underperform in national and international assessment opportunities. Teachers need to assist these learners with sufficient and effective feedback. The purpose of this qualitative study was, firstly, to explore the relationship between Hattie and Timperley’s (2007) model for effective feedback and the Interactionist Theory of Second Language Acquisition (SLA) (Gass & Mackey, 2006) and, secondly, to explore the corrective feedback practices of Intermediate Phase English Home Language teachers that promote SLA. Observations and semi-structured interviews were used to collect data from 15 purposively selected teachers from five different schools. The research findings indicate that the participants experienced various language-related challenges in their teaching of Intermediate Phase English Home Language. Mostly, the participants utilised transmission teaching approaches to provide formative, oral, written, descriptive, and self- feedback. Feedback in terms of Hattie and Timperley’s (2007) model on the task level was mostly applied as opposed to feedback on the process, self-regulation, and the self-level.