The Role of Direct Metalinguistic and Indirect Feedback Timing in Enhancing Willingness to Communicate (WTC) of Iranian EFL Learners

This study tried to inspect and compare any possible effects of immediate and delayed metalinguistic and indirect feedback on the level of WTC of Iranian EFL learners in task performance. This research was a quasi-experimental work with 120 Participants (63 males and 57 females) who were divided into four groups: 30 students as the direct-immediate feedback group, 30 students as the direct-delayed feedback, 30 students as the indirect-immediate feedback, and 30 students as the indirect-delayed feedback. Different instruments were utilized to collect the required data, including the Oxford Placement Test (OPT), the WTC scale (McCroskey, 1992), and a set of two-way exchange tasks. After homogenizing the participants, based on the OPT test, the participants took the WTC scale as a pretest. As the treatment, the indirect immediate feedback group participants reformulated the errors into the correct form as soon as they committed errors. In the indirect delayed feedback group, the teacher noted the errors and the student’s name to provide feedback for that specific student. In the direct metalinguistic immediate feedback group, the participants were provided with both explanations and examples of the correct form of errors they committed. In the metalinguistic delayed group, the teacher wrote notes on the error types and the students’ names to provide explanations andcorrect examples for specific students. The WTC scale was readministered in the post-test and the scores were recorded. Two-way ANOVA was used to analyze the pre-and post-test data. The result of the data analysis showed there was an interaction between the timing and the type of feedback regarding their effect on Iranian intermediate EFL learners’ WTC.