The Effectiveness of Technology-Mediated Oral Corrective Feedback on the Acquisition of English Vowels by Kurdish EFL Learners

Rizgar Qasim Mahmood, Xiaoping Gao, Alfredo Herrero de Haro

doi:10.32038/ltrq.2026.55.01

European KnowledgeDevelopment Institute

Original Research

The Effectiveness of Technology-Mediated Oral Corrective Feedback on the Acquisition of English Vowels by Kurdish EFL Learners

Rizgar Qasim Mahmood

Xiaoping Gao

Alfredo Herrero de Haro

Language Teaching Research Quarterly, Volume 55, Pages 1-29, https://doi.org/10.32038/ltrq.2026.55.01

Abstract
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Oral corrective feedback (oral CF) has been widely investigated in second language pronunciation research because of its potential to promote more target-like phonological production. However, little is known about how technology-assisted oral CF affects learners’ segmental accuracy as measured through acoustic analysis, and no study to date has examined this with Kurdish EFL learners’ production of English vowels. For this purpose, sixty Kurdish EFL learners at a university in Kurdistan were randomly assigned to three groups: (a) an explicit oral CF group, receiving oral explanations supported by visual feedback in Praat; (b) an implicit oral CF group, receiving recasts and input enhancement via YouGlish; and (c) a control group, receiving no oral CF. Ten Native American English speakers provided baseline acoustic data for the target vowels. All learners completed a pre-test, post-test, and delayed post-test two months later. Their production of /iː/ and /ɪ/ was elicited through word reading, sentence reading, and picture description. Results showed that the explicit oral CF group achieved significantly greater improvement than both the implicit oral CF and control groups. Furthermore, only the explicit group maintained gains at the delayed post-test, indicating more durable effects of technology-assisted teacher feedback.

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Keywords

Oral Corrective Feedback; HVPT; Kurdish EFL Context; Praat; Vowel Production

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Author(s) Information

Rizgar Qasim Mahmood

Rizgar Qasim Mahmood pursued his academic endeavours at California State University, Northridge in the USA, where he earned a master’s degree in Linguistics/TESL. After graduating in 2019, he worked as an assistant lecturer at Salahaddin University in Erbil, Iraqi Kurdistan, until 2022. Currently, he is pursuing his PhD in Applied Linguistics/Second Language Acquisition, focusing on the effectiveness of pronunciation instruction, corrective feedback, and technology-assisted language learning in developing L2 learners’ pronunciation. Theoretically, he investigates second-language learning processes through the lens of major SLA theories, particularly Sociocultural Theory and Interactionist Theory.

Xiaoping Gao

Dr Xiaoping Gao is Director of the Chinese Language Center, Associate Director of the Language Education Institute (Chinese Language), and Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Language Science and Technology at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, as well as Honorary Associate Professor at the University of Wollongong. Her research interests span applied linguistics, educational technology, second language acquisition, curriculum development, teacher education, and intercultural communication. She has published extensively in leading peer-reviewed journals across these fields. A recipient of multiple prestigious international, national, and institutional teaching awards, Dr. Gao has led numerous competitive research and teaching development grants. She has extensive leadership experience in advancing academic excellence through mentoring, PhD supervision and examination, teaching award assessment, and educational consultancy. She also serves on the editorial boards of four international journals and remains actively engaged in national and international associations dedicated to language education and technology-enhanced teaching and learning.

Alfredo Herrero de Haro

Alfredo Herrero de Haro completed his B.A. in Spain, although he also attended Loughborough University (UK) as an Erasmus student as part of my degree. He then taught Spanish at various secondary schools in England while working on his DEA (Diploma de Estudios Avanzados) and on his PhD at UNED, where he was given an award for the best thesis presented in the department in 2010. Before joining the University of Wollongong, he was the head of the Languages and Geography area at Cadbury Sixth Form College (Birmingham, UK) and worked as a part-time language tutor at the Centre for Modern Languages of the University of Birmingham. He joined the University of Wollongong in January 2013 and he lecture in the Spanish programme. His main area of interest is in Linguistics, particularly in disciplines that deal with different aspects of Phonetics and Phonology. He is interested in studying language acquisition, mainly Spanish as a foreign language, and one of his favourite areas is the acquisition of Spanish pronunciation by native speakers of English. His research and His teaching are interlinked, and he has produced articles on the topic as well as educational materials.

Publisher’s Note

The claims, arguments, and counter-arguments made in this article are exclusively those of the contributing authors. Hence, they do not necessarily represent the viewpoints of the authors’ affiliated institutions, or EUROKD as the publisher, the editors and the reviewers of the article.

Acknowledgements

Not applicable.

Funding

This research received no external funding.

CRediT Authorship Contribution Statement

Rizgar Qasim Mahmood: Original Draft, Conceptualization, Methodology, Investigation, Data Curation, Writing- Review & Editing

Xiaoping Gao: Supervision, Project Administration, Validation, Writing – Review & Editing

Alfredo Herrero de Haro: Supervision, Project Administration, Writing – Review & Editing

Generative AI Use Disclosure Statement

We acknowledge that the first author has used AI-based tools at several stages of this study, including Google Scholar AI to identify recent publications on the topic and ChatGPT to better understand it. Throughout the first and final drafts, Grammarly was used to improve sentence flow and make the writing more coherent, free of punctuation and grammatical errors (Al Sawi & Alaa, 2024). However, we confirm that all the information and references used in this study have been checked and verified by the authors. They take full responsibility for the accuracy of the information used in this study.

Ethics Declarations

World Medical Association (WMA) Declaration of Helsinki–Ethical Principles for Medical Research Involving Human Participants

This study was conducted in accordance with the ethical principles of the World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki. Ethical approval was obtained from the Research Ethics Committee of the University of Wollongong (Approval No. 2022/344). All participants provided informed written and oral consent prior to participation, and participation was voluntary.

Competing Interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Data Availability

The data are not publicly available because they contain confidential participant information. Access to the data is restricted to protect participant privacy and comply with the ethical conditions under which the study was approved.