Examining the link between feedback‐seeking behaviors and learners' preferences for explicit and implicit oral corrective feedback

Abstract This study examined how learners' feedback‐seeking behaviors (FSB) are related to their preferences for different types of corrective feedback (CF) in second language learning. A questionnaire measuring learners' FSB and CF preferences was administered to 431 Spanish learners at a major US university. Factor analytic and reliability results supported the psychometric properties of the scales. Linear regression analyses indicated that Feedback Monitoring positively predicted Explicit Correction with Metalinguistic Information, Prompt with Metalinguistic Clue, and Prompt with Repetition, negatively predicted preferences for Conversational Recast and the Absence of CF, and did not predict preference for Didactic Recast. Feedback Inquiry positively predicted preferences for Prompt with Repetition, Conversational Recast and the Absence of CF. None of the predictors significantly predicted preference for Didactic Recast and class level did not predict CF preferences. The results indicate two distinct profiles related to CF: students who engage in Feedback Monitoring prefer more explicit CF types and those who engage in Feedback Inquiry either prefer the more implicit types of CF or even the absence of CF, highlighting the importance of considering learners' FSB in relation to their preferences for oral corrective feedback.