TEACHER COGNITION OF CORRECTIVE FEEDBACK IN THE EFL SPEAKING CLASSROOM: A CASE STUDY OF THAI UNIVERSITY TEACHERS

This study investigated teacher cognition in relation to corrective feedback (oral responses to errors in students’ spoken language). Teacher cognition in teaching speaking, especially in corrective feedback, is scant even though speaking is a vital language skill and corrective feedback is considered beneficial for second language learning. This study fills existing gaps in the research by examining 11 Thai EFL teachers’ cognitions through 77 interviews and 33 lesson observations in three stages of teaching: before, during, and after, to capture as full a picture as possible of the teachers’ decision-making processes from pre-teaching cognition through interactive cognition to post-action cognition. The findings suggest that prior language learning experience and teaching experience were the primary sources of cognition. The most powerful factors affecting their cognitions were student motivation and student confidence. A tension between conforming to curriculum goals which was dominated by paper-based exams and the demands of real-world communication focusing on communicative performance was reported by some teachers. This finding, suggesting a lack of alignment between the curriculum and the assessment, highlights a need for more attention to the assessment of speaking courses. The finding of insignificant effects of professional coursework raises concerns concerning the knowledge of corrective feedback and motivational strategies provided in teacher education and training. Filling this gap may promote more informed decision-making in the speaking classroom on behalf of teachers.