Login (DCU Staff Only)
Login (DCU Staff Only)

DORAS | DCU Research Repository

Explore open access research and scholarly works from DCU

Advanced Search

Teachers’ and students’ perspectives of corrective feedback on the grammatical accuracy of immersion students’ second language

Ní Aogáin, Sylvaine (2019) Teachers’ and students’ perspectives of corrective feedback on the grammatical accuracy of immersion students’ second language. PhD thesis, Dublin City University.

Abstract
Despite extensive literature highlighting the advantages of immersion education, in relation to second language acquisition (SLA), research also indicates particular weaknesses (e.g. Chaudron, 1986; Genesee, 2004; Harley, 1992; Lyster, 2007; Mougeon, Nadasdi & Rehner, 2010). One such weakness is that immersion students generally fail to achieve a high standard of second language (L2) grammatical accuracy (Mougeon et al., 2010; Ó Duibhir, 2018). The current study investigates this identified weakness in immersion schooling and critically examines oral Corrective Feedback (CF), from a sociocultural perspective, as a means to address students’ L2 grammatical inaccuracies. Oral CF may be described as any reaction of a teacher or another student that encourages the student to correct their grammatical inaccuracy immediately during communication (Lyster, Saito, & Sato, 2013). While research on this topic is limited in Ireland, it appears, from international research, that CF may enhance a more accurate acquisition of an L2, if utilised in accordance with the ability and language needs of the student (e.g. Aljaafreh & Lantolf, 1994) and if applied in a systematic manner. However, despite the potential of CF for L2learning, international research indicates that many immersion teachers do not utilise it routinely as part of their teaching strategies (Lyster, 2007, 2015; Ó Ceallaigh, 2013; Ranta & Lyster, 2018). The current study contributes to the field and builds on the latest research on CF in immersion school settings internationally, by examining the implementation of a systematic oral CF approach, in the immersion classroom, in Ireland. Adopting a pragmatic paradigm, the researcher deemed a qualitative approach to data collection most fitting to answer the primary research question, which asked: What are participants’ perspectives on the systematic use of oral corrective feedback (CF) to support the development of fifthclass immersion students’ second language grammatical accuracy, specifically in relation to noun gender? In examining this research question, all teacher participants (n=8) receivedprofessional development (PD) in relation to an explicit-inductive approach to grammar instruction. This served as a baseline control factor across all groups. Excluding the two comparison group teachers (n=2), each participating teacher (n=6) received additional PD on specific CF strategies, which considered the students’ linguistic abilities and needs. The teachers then implemented these varying strategies in their own classrooms. The researcher engaged in classroom-based observation consistently throughout the study. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with participating teachers to elicit their perspectives on the impact of the systematic use of CF on the L2 grammatical accuracy of their students, specifically in relation to noun gender. These data were augmented by the responses of students during focus group interviews. Data were then analysed thematically (Braun & Clarke, 2006) within a sociocultural framework and some significant findings emerged from the qualitative data to contribute to the field of SLA on how CF may be effectively executed to promote a more accurate L2 learning.
Metadata
Item Type:Thesis (PhD)
Date of Award:March 2019
Refereed:No
Supervisor(s):Ó Duibhir, Pádraig
Uncontrolled Keywords:Immersion Education; Corrective Feedback
Subjects:Humanities > Irish language
Humanities > Language
Humanities > Linguistics
Social Sciences > Education
DCU Faculties and Centres:DCU Faculties and Schools > Institute of Education > School of Language, Literacy, & Early Childhood Education
Use License:This item is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License. View License
ID Code:22827
Deposited On:03 Apr 2019 12:22 by Fran Callaghan . Last Modified 03 Apr 2019 12:22
Documents

Full text available as:

[thumbnail of 5.12.2018 Final Copy.pdf]
Preview
PDF - Requires a PDF viewer such as GSview, Xpdf or Adobe Acrobat Reader
5MB
Downloads

Downloads

Downloads per month over past year

Archive Staff Only: edit this record