Bridging the belief-practice divide: teacher and student perspectives on how oral corrective feedback influences willingness to communicate

Oral corrective feedback (OCF) is an essential pedagogical practice in which teachers respond to learner errors to facilitate second language development. As teachers’ OCF approaches influence learners’ willingness to communicate (WTC), a key determinant of verbal output, their strategic use is crucial. However, while research has investigated OCF types and their effects on WTC, a critical gap remains in concurrently examining teachers’ OCF beliefs and practices alongside students’ corresponding beliefs, uptake, and WTC. Addressing this, the present study introduces a novel, dual-perspective, longitudinal investigation into the alignments and mismatches between teacher and student perspectives and practices regarding OCF and WTC in a Beijing senior high school. Data were triangulated from surveys (n = 109), classroom observations, and semi-structured interviews with four teachers and four focal students. Findings revealed that teachers preferred and predominantly employed indirect OCF (e.g. recasts, repetition) to maintain a supportive classroom environment. Students, however, expressed a more open stance, valuing both explicit and indirect OCF while highlighting elicitation and metalinguistic clues as particularly conducive to WTC. Furthermore, students across WTC levels were observed reacting to feedback in diverse and often inconsistent ways that contradicted their stated beliefs. This indicates that OCF type acts not as a direct determinant but as a moderating variable within a complex OCF-WTC interplay influenced by other individual and contextual factors. By integrating self-report and observational data from key stakeholders, this study contributes a nuanced understanding of how OCF influences WTC, advocating for adaptable pedagogical approaches that account for individual and contextual differences.