Students’ use and perceptions of feedback in a paired collaborative speaking task

Abstract

Learner-centeredness is an integral part of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) and paired conversations are promoted by this method because it is considered to effectively increase the student talking time. In paired conversations, instead of being merely interlocutors during their speaking activities, students are expected to initiatively assist each other’s performances by exchanging feedback and comments. This study examined 28 intermediate students on how they gave their partners feedback during a paired collaborative speaking task. It also investigated their perceptions on exchanging feedback. Observation and semi-structured interviews were employed for data collection. A mismatch between their viewpoints and actual performances was found. The interview analysis suggests that the students were well-aware of the roles and benefits of giving and receiving feedback. Meanwhile, the empirical data collected from the observation scheme shows that only a modest number of feedback instances, particularly corrective feedback, were actually given by the students. This was mostly resulted from the students’ lack of proper strategies and skills on giving feedback and their fear of losing their partners’ faces.