Written feedback in an English language writing class

Wan Hurani Osman

Abstract

The Malaysian English syllabi for primary schools, secondary schools, and higher learning institutions focus mainly on the four skills, i.e. listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Among the four skills, writing is the most difficult skill to master, and it becomes harder when using a second language. Because of this, when students write in a second language, it is very important that the feedback they receive are useful and motivating. There are many views on what academics give as feedback and how it is given which will help to motivate and improve the students’ writing. This paper attempts to identify the common practices and styles of giving feedback by academics at a public university in Malaysia. The respondents for this research are students and academics, who were learning and teaching an academic writing module in the university. The students were given a questionnaire which was adapted from Montgomery & Baker (2007) and Lee (2003) and the academics were interviewed in order to obtain in-dept information regarding the matter being investigated. This research also aims to obtain the students’ perceptions and suggestions on what they consider as good, clear, and motivating feedback.

References

Abdullah, H., & Sidek, H.M. (2012). L2 Writing feedback: Alignment of instructional planning and implementation. ELTED, 15, 15-24.

Ahmadi-Azad, S. (2014). The effect of coded and uncoded written corrective feedback types on Iranian EFL learners’ writing accuracy. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 4, 1001-1008.

Al-Maari, R. (2010). Is there a right way to deal with errors in second and foreign language learning? Retrieved from http://www.articlesbase.com/languagesarticles/ is-there-a-right-way-to-deal-with-errors-in-second-and-foreign-languagelearning-1869866.html

Bitchener,J., Young S., & Cameron, J. (2005). The effect of different types of corrective feedback on ESL student writing. Journal of Second Language Writing, 14, 191-205.

Bond, K. (2002, December). Profile of a successful language learner. Retrieved from http://www3.telus.net/linguisticsissues/successful.html

Byrne, D. (1979). Teaching writing skills. In Teaching English to speakers of other languages TESOL Writing. Retrieved from http://www.teachingstylesonline.com/writing_tesol_situation.html

Che Musa, H., Koo Y. L., & Azman, H. (2013). Exploring English language learning and teaching in Malaysia. GEMA Online™ Journal of Language Studies, 12(1), 35-51.

Creswell, J. W. (2012). Educational Research. Planning, conducting and evaluating quantitative and qualitative research. Boston, USA: Pearson Education.

Erel, S., & Bulut, D. (2007). Error treatment in L2 writing: A comparative study of direct and indirect coded feedback in Turkish EFL context. Journal of Institute of Social Sciences, 23, 397-415.

Fareed, M., Ashraf, A., & Bilal, M. (2016). ESL learners’ writing skills: Problems, factors and suggestions. Journal of Education and Social Sciences, 4 (2):1, 81-92. Features of academic writing (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.uefap.com/writing/feature/featfram.htm

Ferris, D. R. (2002). Treatment of error in second language student writing. Ann Abor: University of Michigan Press.

Ferris, D. R. (2006). Does error feedback help student writers? New evidence on the shortand long-term effects of written error correction. In K. Hyland & F. Hyland (Eds.), Feedback in second language writing: Contexts and issues (pp 81-104). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.