Investigating the Quantity and Quality of Corrective Feedback Adjectives: A Corpus-Based Study

Abstract

This study explores the role of corrective feedback adjectives in classroom instructions, focusing on both their quantity and quality. By providing an overview of relevant literature in the fields of corpus linguistics and corrective feedback, the paper establishes a theoretical foundation for understanding how teachers use adjectives in providing feedback. The data were collected from 5 English language teachers during a total of twenty online Grade 5 classroom sessions. Data were collected from a real classroom setting and analysed using AntConc, a corpus-based software tool. The compiled corpus consisted of 12,540 words and included 325 instances of corrective feedback. The findings revealed that teachers predominantly utilized adjectives that convey positive corrective feedback, as opposed to those that offer negative feedback. The study highlights the potential impact of corrective feedback adjectives on student motivation, urging educators to be mindful of their language choices in feedback to foster a more supportive learning environment.