Investigating teacher perceptions of and student reactions to oral and written feedback in foreign language classroom

Teachers' written and oral feedback has a considerable impact on students' learning and achievement process in English as a foreign language classroom. Both students and teachers value feedback as it provides the opportunity for both parties to identify the strengths and weaknesses that should be dealt with in classroom conditions. Much research on feedback has so far concentrated upon the type and the effectiveness of teacher feedback. However, why the teachers give the feedback as they do and how the students react and perceive the teachers' feedback is under-investigated. Therefore, the aim of this study is twofold: First, find out teachers' purpose and constraining factors while giving feedback, and second, elicit student reactions to teacher feedback provided by their teachers in the class. To collect data for the study, two teachers working in a state school in Turkey were given open-ended written questions, and additionally, students were given a questionnaire. The findings suggest valuable insights into the process of giving oral and written feedback to students and what the students think about it.