A Close Look at Sixty Years of Corrective Feedback

Abstract

Debates  about  the  value  of  applying  corrective  feedback in language teaching and learning has  been  prominent  in  the recent  years by respecting the past, understanding the current values, proofs and directions and finding new perspectives to change the future of corrective feedback (CF). The purpose of this article is to examine how CF found its way through the history of its development from 1950s to the new millennium and to present a review of CF in English language teaching.  A close look at the history of CF helps teachers and researchers become familiar with different views about the CF and change their methodological perspectives on CF and try to apply the research findings to language pedagogy. The article concludes with some general suggestions about standard ways of receiving feedback by students, the development of CF through complex systems, and the development of CF for specific purposes.