Negotiation of Form Among the Displaced: Developing a Corrective Feedback Paradigm for Refugees

Introduction

Given the increasing international awareness of refugee crises in recent years, more and more scholars have documented the effect displacement has on refugees’ well-being, usually related to physical or mental health and employment or socio-economic status (Garrido, 2013; Gerritsen et al., 2006; Jamil et al., 2005; Jorm et al., 2012; Krahn, Derwing, Mulder, & Wilkinson, 2000; Ou Jin Lee & Brotman, 2013; Peri, 2016; Slewa-Younan et al., 2017; Tabar, 2012; Tanle, 2013; E. M. Taylor et al., 2014; Uribe Guajardo, Slewa-Younan, Smith, Eagar, & Stone, 2016; Wright et al., 2017; Yaser et al., 2016). Fewer scholars have analysed the effect of displacement on refugees’ learning, or educational engagement, broadly speaking (Moinolnolki & Han, 2017; S. Taylor & Sidhu, 2012). One such recent example explored the literacy development practices of Karen refugee families in America (Quadros & Sarroub, 2016). Other examples have focused on refugees and science/technology (Dahya & Dryden-Peterson, 2016; Harper, 2017), peace/conflict learning (Kyuchukov & New, 2016), and, of course, English as a Second Language (ESL).

Some scholars have studied the linguistic and metapragmatic practices that enable or hinder refugee learning advancement in ESL curricula (Beiser & Hou, 2001; Koyama, 2015). Doris Warriner (2016), for example, wrote a salient article examining the semiotics of an ESL classroom comprised of refugees, finding that symbols and language in the classroom suppress the life advancement of adult refugee learners of English; images and texts, in other words, limited refugees’ employment imaginations beyond working minimum-wage jobs. Another related study found that refugees’ re-creation of their migration experiences in the classroom minimized unequal power relations in the ESL classroom between student and teacher, allowing refugees to better understand their identity (Stille, 2015). One other study advanced the notion that developing communicative competence in English, in addition to already known languages (i.e. becoming multilingual), constructs multilingual capital, an important skill unique to immigrants and refugees (Duran, 2016). However, there are few studies that actually analyse pedagogical practices within an ESL classroom comprised of refugees. Thus, this study seeks to address the present gap in the literature through focusing on one inevitable teaching practice: Negotiation of form, otherwise known as error correction or corrective feedback, to develop self-regulation.

Self-regulation refers to the culmination of research on the autonomous process of learning. Once unique to language acquisition, multiple disciplines have recently emphasized the importance of self-regulation in learning, including chemistry, mathematics, physical education, and physics (Gurcay & Balta, 2013; Eker, 2013; Uzuntiryaki & Capa-Aydin, 2013; Wilkinson & Prusak, 2013). Zimmerman’s (1990, 2000) original self-regulation concept and Oxford’s (2010) strategic self-regulation rendition highlight a general trend in language learning strategies discourse toward empowering the learner to participate in, control, regulate, and monitor his or her performance (Chularut & DeBacker, 2004). Teachers and facilitators therefore ought to structure lessons in ways that facilitate self-regulation in the classroom (Brown, 2014). One key area where self-regulation occurs, especially in language teaching and learning, is error correction. Here, the goal becomes self-repair, self-regulation’s counterpart within the error correction process.