Teacher Participation and Feedback Styles During Classroom Synchronous Computer-Mediated Communication in Intermediate German: A Multiple Case Study

Abstract

This mixed design multiple case study of learners' interactions explores the effects of teacher participation during third semester German in-class chatting activities. Three third-semester German courses taught by two different teachers were investigated over the course of one semester, during which the class members were asked to chat for 20 minutes per week using activities design by the researcher and adapted from the textbook.Multiple data sets were collected: teachers' participation styles and feedback moves; students' language learning achievement levels; students' attitudes towards corrective feedback and technology; their experience with feedback and technology; and evidence in chat transcripts of errors, uptake, and error uptake. Students were administered a pre- and post-instruction achievement test on the structures taught during third semester German. In addition, they were surveyed at the beginning and the end of the semester on their attitudes and experiences with feedback and technology in the foreign language classroom. Furthermore, chat transcripts were analyzed to identify errors, corrective feedback, teacher moves, uptake, error uptake, student and teacher word count and words per minute, error rate, and target language use. In order to better understand the context of the transcripts, classroom observations were conducted once a month, and students completed a self-report form after each chat session. Informal conversations with the teachers provided additional insights.It was found that the students overwhelmingly appreciated teacher involvement and feedback, and that they saw chatting as both fun and beneficial for language learning. The corrective feedback rate was generally low, as were rates of uptake and error uptake. The two teachers were found to have different interaction and feedback styles. Furthermore, the three classes operated with differing levels of technical support during the lab sessions, which did not appear to influence the students' experiences except for the amount of teacher output. Six case study subjects, namely the two students from each class who contributed the most to chat sessions, were selected for an in-depth analysis of their chat transcripts.