Servat Shirkhani; Samaneh Omidi
Abstract
Written corrective feedback has been extensively investigated with regard to its effectiveness, comparison of its different types, and perceptions about its effectiveness. However, few studies have addressed the types of errors receiving corrective feedback (CF) and still much fewer have focused on formulaic ...
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Written corrective feedback has been extensively investigated with regard to its effectiveness, comparison of its different types, and perceptions about its effectiveness. However, few studies have addressed the types of errors receiving corrective feedback (CF) and still much fewer have focused on formulaic errors as targets of CF. Thus, the current study compared formulaic and non-formulaic errors as targets of CF in learner writings. In addition, it examined the CF types provided to these errors. Finally, it sought the effect of a teacher awareness-raising program on teachers' attention to formulaic versus non-formulaic errors and on the CF types used to correct these errors. To achieve these purposes, eight English language teachers from four language institutes were selected through convenience sampling. First, during two sessions, the teachers asked the learners to write two compositions on two writing topics. Next, an awareness-raising program for teachers was run to raise the teacher's awareness level about formulaic and non-formulaic errors and CF types for correcting such errors. Then, the learners were asked to write two other compositions each in one session. The results showed that before the treatment, non-formulaic errors received considerably more CF than formulaic errors and that the percentage of direct CF was more than other CF types. In addition, the study showed that the awareness-raising program for teachers influenced their attention to formulaic errors. The findings of this study indicate that teachers need awareness-raising about the importance of formulaic sequences and about the need for correcting formulaic errors whenever possible.
Ehsan Abbaspour; Mahmood Reza Atai; Parviz Maftoon
Abstract
The prevalence of Sociocultural Theory (SCT) as a major theory in SLA has spurred a considerable number of studies to investigate the various aspect of L2 acquisition through the lens of this theoretical framework. The present study aimed at investigating the impact of Scaffolded Written Corrective Feedback ...
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The prevalence of Sociocultural Theory (SCT) as a major theory in SLA has spurred a considerable number of studies to investigate the various aspect of L2 acquisition through the lens of this theoretical framework. The present study aimed at investigating the impact of Scaffolded Written Corrective Feedback (WCF) on Iranian EFL learners’ writing performance in terms of fluency, accuracy, grammatical complexity, and lexical complexity. Additionally, the study sought to inquire about the Iranian EFL learners’ attitudes toward Scaffolded WCF through a series of post-interviews and a questionnaire. For this purpose, 25 students who had enrolled in a university-level writing course were conveniently sampled after a homogeneity test for the study. The pedagogical treatment the participants received throughout the study was Scaffolded WCF (i.e. a ZPD-based teacher/peer corrective feedback on their writing performance). The data obtained from the pretest, immediate posttest, and delayed posttest were analyzed using a series of ANOVA and Friedman’s tests. The findings indicated that Scaffolded WCF statistically significantly contributed to the participants’ writing performance regarding grammatical complexity, fluency, accuracy, and lexical complexity. The results obtained from the attitude questionnaire and the post-interviews also revealed that the participants held a positive attitude toward the adopted approach. The findings provide promising implications for the adoption of this approach in large classes typical of Iranian university-level writing courses.
Mahsa Shaqaqi; Hassan Soliemani
Abstract
Although L2 researchers agree that written corrective feedback (WCF) improves L2 learners' grammatical accuracy, few systematic studies have investigated the effect of computer-mediated feedback on improving L2 learners' grammatical accuracy. This study was an attempt to investigate the comparative effects ...
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Although L2 researchers agree that written corrective feedback (WCF) improves L2 learners' grammatical accuracy, few systematic studies have investigated the effect of computer-mediated feedback on improving L2 learners' grammatical accuracy. This study was an attempt to investigate the comparative effects of two types of WCF (asynchronous computer-mediated and conventional paper-and-pen metalinguistic feedback on intermediate L2 learners' use of verb tense. The participants were 49 L2 learners chosen via convenience sampling whose ages ranged from 18-25. They were in 3 intact settings in Simin Institute in Tehran. They were assigned into 3 groups: 2 experimental and 1 control. To measure the participants' knowledge of verb tense before treatment, a pretest was administered. In the next step, the experimental groups received metalinguistic feedback in separate settings whereas the control group did not receive any treatment. Finally, a posttest was used to measure the participants' knowledge of verb tense after the treatment. Though the ANOVA findings suggested that both types of WCF resulted in the improvement of the participants' verb tense accuracy, the effect of computer-mediated asynchronous feedback on the use of verb tense was more profound. In a conclusion, WCF had a significant effect on the verb tense accuracy of intermediate L2 learners.
