Feedback‐Seeking Behavior in Language Learning: Basic Components and Motivational Antecedents

Abstract This study investigated the concept of corrective feedback in second language learning as a learning resource, recasting it as feedback‐seeking behavior . Dweck's (1999) mindsets, Korn and Elliot's (2016) achievement goals, and Ashford's (1986) model of feedback‐seeking behavior were re‐operationalized in the context of language learning. Questionnaire data from 287 college students studying foreign languages in the United States confirmed that learners make calculated decisions regarding whether to seek feedback, by what method, and from what source, based on their own perceptions of the costs and values associated with different feedback‐seeking strategies, which are, in turn, largely predicted by the learners’ language mindsets and achievement goals. Learners with a growth language mindset and development‐approach goals sought feedback using both monitoring and inquiry methods and from teachers and others. Learners with a fixed language mindset and demonstration goals sought feedback only by method of inquiry but from different sources depending on the valence (approach vs. avoidance) of their goals.