Classroom Interactional Feedback in Second Language Acquisition

Mastering a Second Language is immensely complex as it is affected by many psycholinguistic and external factors, with ‘classroom interaction’ being highly pivotal. Hence, the role played by Classroom Interactional Feedback (CIF) in Second Language Acquisition (SLA) has been the focus of concern to teachers and researchers. However, existing research results are inconsistent: many lack statistical analysis and focused only on immediate learning: only a few researchers have employed action research and classroom observation for data collection despite their significance for research on language acquisition: no research refers to CIF observed in South Asian contexts, especially in Sri Lankan language contexts. This action research, conducted in Sri Lanka, employed a two-fold design to collect data - audio and video recordings of classroom sessions transcribed verbatim and scores of pre and post tests. It concludes by creating clines of CIFs to be promoted in SLA contexts, particularly at University level. For anyone engaged in learning/teaching a second language or in scientific research on psycholinguistics and SLA, this book is worth reading as its content is remarkable.

Chitra Jayathilake is Senior Lecturer in English at the Department of English, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Sri Lanka. She holds an MA in TESL (Post Graduate Institute of English, the Open University, Sri Lanka), and an MA in Linguistics (University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka). She is pursuing her PhD in Literature at the University of Keele, UK.