Iranian EFL Teachers and Learners’ Preferences for Four Types of Oral Corrective Feedback: Explicit correction, Recast, Metalinguistic feedback and Repetition

The purpose of this study was to investigate the difference between the preferences of English language teachers and those of English language learners for four types of corrective feedback (CF) including explicit correction, recast, metalinguistic feedback, and repetition. As the main instrument of the research, two scenario-based questionnaires were developed based on the classification of CF by Lyster and Ranta (1997) for collecting data on the preferences of teachers and learners about the type of CF. Scenarios were extracted from the research background in the subject of CF. Then the questionnaires were distributed one by one among the participants in the study. Also, with the aim of verifying the quantitative data, in order to triangulate the data collected through the questionnaire, structured interviews were conducted. The findings showed that the preferences of teachers and the reasons for their preferences differ from those of the learners, both on the type of the CF to give or take and the ranking order. The findings also allowed for the analysis of different perspectives between teachers with different levels of English language learning experience. In addition, analysis of interviews showed that the lack of CF literacy among English language teachers in Iran is an emerging educational issue. This study points to the facts that some types of CF are preferred to other ones, and that many English language teachers still do not know if they should provide CF. This study can be useful for language teachers and teacher educators.