Comparative Effect of Screencast and Face-to-Face Corrective Feedback on EFL Learners’ Speaking Proficiency

Abstract

This study reports on the comparative effect of screencast and face-to-face (F2F) explicit corrective feedback on English as a foreign language (EFL) learners’ speaking proficiency. Seventy EFL learners studying at the upper-intermediate level in a private institute in Iran were selected and assigned randomly to three groups, attending an in-person, extracurricular speaking crash course running for nine sessions. The experimental group (n = 26) received screencast corrective feedback after online IELTS-based interviews, the comparison group (n = 28) obtained their corrective feedback via in-person F2F interviews, and the control group (n = 16) received no relevant corrective feedback after their speaking course. Learners’ performances were elicited in IELTS speaking mock interviews in pre-, immediate, and delayed post-tests. Results revealed that whereas both the experimental and comparison groups significantly improved in their speaking proficiency up to the delayed post-test, the control group showed no significant improvement. Nevertheless, it was observed that the experimental group outperformed the comparison group as the magnitudes of difference gauged by effect sizes were considerably stronger for the former group in immediate and delayed post-tests. These findings highlight the untapped potential of screencast corrective feedback in magnifying the effect of explicit corrective feedback on EFL learners’ speaking proficiency.