Oral corrective feedback: Iranian in-service EFL teachers’ cognitions and reported practices

Previous research on oral corrective feedback (OCF) has primarily focused on teachers’ cognitions and practices in pre-service and private-sector contexts, with limited attention to in-service teachers, particularly in state-sector settings. This study investigates Iranian in-service English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers’ cognitions and reported practices concerning OCF in state-sector schools. Drawing on Borg’s teacher cognition framework and Lyster and Ranta’s typology of feedback types, the study focuses on five key aspects of OCF: source, provider, linguistic target, timing, and feedback type. An explanatory sequential mixed-methods design was employed: 204 teachers completed a questionnaire, followed by semi-structured interviews with 10 participants. The findings indicate that teaching experience, particularly through critical incidents, is the most influential source of OCF cognitions and behaviors. Crucially, affective factors, such as student anxiety and motivation, were found to override cognitive and contextual factors in shaping teachers’ feedback decisions. The study highlights the interplay of cognition, emotion, and context in OCF decision-making and calls for teacher education programs to address not only pedagogical knowledge but also the emotional dimensions of teaching. The article concludes by proposing a model of teachers’ OCF cognitions and reported practices, foregrounding affective factors as an influential source of teachers’ OCF cognitions and practice.