STUDENTS’ PERCEPTION OF DIRECT CORRECTIVE FEEDBACK ON ENGLISH SPEAKING CONFIDENCE: A QUALITATIVE STUDY

Abstrak

Speaking confidence is a crucial component in English language learning, particularly for EFL students who often struggle with anxiety, low self-esteem, and fear of making mistakes. Direct Corrective Feedback (DCF) is widely used by teachers to address spoken errors, yet its psychological impact on learners remains underexplored. This qualitative study investigates students’ perceptions of DCF and how it influences their confidence in speaking English. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with ten 11th-grade students with beginner-level English proficiency at a senior high school in Kuningan. The findings reveal that students generally perceive DCF as helpful for improving pronunciation, linguistic accuracy, and awareness of errors. Most participants reported increased confidence after receiving clear and supportive correction. However, one student experienced decreased confidence due to feelings of embarrassment when corrected publicly. These results highlight that while DCF is effective in promoting linguistic development, its emotional impact depends on teacher delivery, timing, and individual learner characteristics. The study emphasizes the need for teachers to implement DCF with sensitivity to foster both accuracy and confidence in EFL speaking contexts.