The Effect of Delayed and Immediate Oral Corrective Feedback on L2 Pronunciation in Emergency Distance Education

Abstract

With the sudden shift to online teaching with COVID-19 in 2020, ELT professionals and EFL learners found themselves in an environment with relatively less interaction, distant from their ordinary classrooms. In such a setting, a critical aspect of language teaching, oral corrective feedback (OCF), has become even more important for both sides. In a context of emergency distance education, this study focuses on the effect of delayed and immediate OCF on Turkish university students’ L2 pronunciation in the scope of a speaking course, and their views on the feedback they received. In this respect, 23 students taking an oral communication skills course through online instruction were monitored for a total of eight weeks and their pronunciation errors throughout the process were recorded. One group received immediate feedback while the other group had delayed, individualized feedback on their pronunciation. A posttest based on these errors was administered online at the end of the process. The results showed a decrease in pronunciation errors for all students, and the difference in the number of errors during and at the end of the semester was statistically significant in both groups. However, the mean difference and the effect size were larger for the group who were exposed to delayed feedback.