Teacher Feedback Types: Senior Versus Novice Teachers in CSL Classrooms

Research on classroom interaction has a long history, dating back to the late 1930s. In terms of teacher-student interaction, the most widely known model is the “Initiation-Response-Feedback” (IRF) model, in which teachers ask questions (Ong et al. in New Waves Educ Res Dev J 19:1-19, 2016; Al-Zahrani and Al-Bargi in Engl Lang Teach 10:135-150, 2017), students respond, and teachers give feedback (Lai in Native and non-native English-mediated instruction teachers’ questions and feedback, 2012). This study aimed to investigate feedback provided by six novice and senior CSL (Chinese as a Second Language) teachers in beginner, intermediate, and advanced classes at the Mandarin Training Center of National Taiwan Normal University. The findings of the study are as follows: In terms of feedback types, both senior and novice teachers preferred to use discoursal feedback more than evaluative feedback, with Elaboration and Reformulation being the mostly commonly employed techniques. However, novice teachers differed from senior teachers in their more frequent use of Repetition compared to senior teachers. Regarding corrective feedback strategies, both groups of teachers showed a strong preference for Type B (Hint) and Type C (Recast), while Type A (Request) was used less frequently. The main difference between the two groups of teachers was that senior teachers used Type D (Correction) more frequently than novice teachers.