Exploring ESL Teachers’ Insights on Corrective Oral Feedback in a Malaysian Secondary Education Context

Feedback is one of the most significant elements in the process of teaching and learning. It serves as a tool to enhance students’ second language proficiency. Thus, the purpose of this study is to investigate how oral feedback is viewed and how it has been maneuvered to assist second language learner’s linguistic competence from the viewpoint of English teachers. Teachers’ perception of feedback is very important because it will determine the amount of feedback used in the process of teaching and learning. This is a qualitative study employing case study research design. It was conducted to 10 English language teachers from secondary schools in Malaysia The instrument used in this study was a semi-structured interview. Data collected from the interview were analyzed using thematic analysis. Several themes have been found during data analysis such as feedback as tool for motivation, oral feedback and learning from mistakes, students’ acceptance of teachers’ oral feedback and feedback as a medium to develop language proficiency. The result indicated that English teachers in Malaysia generally showed positive perception of oral feedback. Furthermore, teachers also reported to have noticed improvement in students’ language competence by listening to teachers’ feedback. Therefore, appropriate measure should be taken to ensure that teachers can provide effective oral feedback during teaching and learning.