The Role of Explicit Correction versus Metalinguistic Corrective Feedback in Increasing Iranian EFL Learners’ Oral Proficiency

Speaking is an interactive skill and requires the ability to co-operate in the management of speaking turns. It also typically takes place in real time with little time for detailed planning. Speaking is one of the four macro skills to be developed as a means of effective communication in both first and second language learning contexts. In the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) pedagogy environment, how to increase speaking competence and confidence for undergraduate students tends to be a crucial question among instructors (Thornbury, 2005). Optimal learning of English, however, requires a balanced mastery of the four skills (Listening, Speaking, Reading, and Writing). Nonetheless, this paper concerns itself with probing students’ development of the speaking skill. Throughout the current paper, we made it our point to address three main questions: (1) Does explicit corrective feedback have any significant effect on increasing Iranian EFL learners’ oral proficiency? (2)Does metalinguistic corrective feedback have any significant effect on increasing Iranian EFL learners’ oral proficiency? And (3) is there any significant difference between explicit and metalinguistic feedback types in increasing Iranian EFL learners’ oral proficiency? For the purpose of the study, 60 lower-intermediate Iranian EFL learners taking speaking course for English as a Foreign Language (EFL) at Science and Art University in Yazd, Iran, participated in this experimental study. The participants were divided into two groups and each group received different feedback types. The first group received explicit correction by the teacher in their speaking task, while the second group received the metalinguistic type of feedback. So, two paired-sample t-tests were conducted to measure the significant difference between the two groups of learners. The results of the analysis revealed that both explicit and metalinguistic corrective feedback have significant roles in increasing EFL learners’ oral proficiency.