Beliefs and Practices of Written Corrective Feedback in Spanish as a Foreign Language: A Case Study of Chinese and Spanish Teachers

Abstract

The study investigates the characteristics of written corrective feedback (WCF) as it relates to the beliefs of teachers of Spanish as a Foreign Language (SFL) and their actual teaching approaches. The main objective of this investigation involves understanding teacher beliefs about WCF along with identifying different WCF delivery methods while determining the match or mismatch between their beliefs and actual instructional approaches. The study uses qualitative approaches to evaluate student work and conduct semi-structured interviews to study feedback delivery methods. The study gathered written texts from a sample of 21 students and interview data from two SFL teachers. The data was analyzed within the Atlas Ti 9.0 software while applying the thematic content analysis technique. The analysis reveals direct feedback occurs as the teachers' primary choice while they employ indirect feedback relatively infrequently. The teachers strongly support that WCF serves as vital instruction for students to acquire a second language (L2) while their approach aligns with their teachings. The findings open new avenues about the research inquiries and the analysis of study boundaries in the WCF domain. The study contributes to understanding how cultural and professional backgrounds affect instructors' pedagogical choices.