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Part of
TBLT as a Researched Pedagogy
Edited by Virginia Samuda, Kris Van den Branden and Martin Bygate
[Task-Based Language Teaching 12] 2018
► pp. 213–234

Chapter 8
Promoting learning from second language speaking tasks

Exploring learner attitudes to the use of comparators and oral feedback

| University of Edinburgh

In this chapter I report the findings of a study of language learner attitudes to comparators and oral feedback used as support for their performances on speaking tasks. The study involved two groups of international postgraduates studying at the University of Edinburgh: the first were students who had attended an in-session speaking skills course, and the second were an intact class attending a pre-sessional English for Academic Purposes (EAP) programme. The views revealed in their questionnaire responses and interviews show wide variation at the individual level, even among students from the same cultural background. The findings also suggest differences in perception between the two groups, which may be related in part to the different experience of learners at a pre-sessional stage and of those already attending degree programmes. I discuss the learners’ responses and suggest a teaching framework in which language teachers and course designers could accommodate different learners’ perceptions of the most effective ways of comparing and enhancing their second language performances.

Article outline
  • Introduction
  • Background: Defining feedback
  • Timing of feedback
  • Feedback encouraging learner reflection
  • Supplementing feedback: Comparators
  • Learner views on comparators and feedback: Type and timing
  • The task under study
    • Pre-task
    • Task 1: Private performance
    • Debriefing 1
    • Task 2: Public performance
    • Debriefing 2
    • Post-task
  • Survey 1: In-session students
    • Data collection
  • Findings
    • Usefulness
    • Timing of chosen comparators
  • Summary
  • Survey 2: Pre-sessional students
    • Data collection
  • Findings
    • Usefulness
    • Timing of chosen comparators
  • Discussion
  • Reasons for differing perceptions
  • A framework for accommodating learners’ preferences
  • Conclusion
  • References
  • Appendix
Published online: 1 November 2018
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/tblt.12.09lyn
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