Metalinguistic terms, teacher feedback, and learner uptake in ESL classrooms

Abstract

Metalanguage is an important part of teacher talk in L2 classrooms. The present study examined the occurrence and type of metalinguistic terms in teacher feedback and their relationship with the patterns of learner uptake and the effectiveness of teacher feedback. A total of eight teachers and nine classes participated in the study. Four to six observations were made in each class, and two tailor-made individualized tests were administered to learners. The results revealed that: 1) the occurrence of metalinguistic terms varied notably with the type of feedback episodes (i.e. teacher-initiated, student-initiated and reactive); 2) the presence of metalinguistic terms was significantly related to both the frequency and successfulness of uptake, but the type of metalinguistic terms was only significantly related to the frequency of uptake, not its successfulness; and 3) metalinguistic terms in general were not significantly related to learners’ performance in either the immediate test or the delayed test, but the type of metalinguistic terms was significantly related to the results of the delayed test.

Keywords:

• Metalinguistic terms
• technical terms
• nontechnical terms
• teacher feedback
• learner uptake

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Weiqing Wang

Weiqing Wang received her PhD degree from Michigan State University. She is now a professor at Xiangtan University, Hunan, China. Her main interests are form-focused instruction and the self-explanation effect in L2 learning. Currently, she is working on a project on oral corrective feedback in Chinese EFL classrooms.