Contrasting perceptions of students and teachers: written corrective feedback

Abstract

Teacher-student negotiation in terms of corrective feedback types for written language production has been studied in some ESL (English as a Second Language) contexts. However, there needs to be more studies in some other contexts. Therefore, this study aims to find out the similarities and differences between students’ and teachers’ perceptions about written corrective feedback in an EFL (English as a Foreign Language) context and provide educational implications in written error treatment. For this purpose, 34 EFL teachers and 34 EFL learners were administered a questionnaire and some open-ended questions, and the gathered data were analyzed with statistical procedures and descriptive qualitative analyses. Although it was found out that there are no significant differences (t (66) = 0.406; p > 0.05) between the two groups in terms of amount and type of written corrective feedback, there exist some differences in the findings of the open-ended questions. Furthermore, some differences were fixed even within the same group, that is, there are differences in the adoption of written corrective feedback among students or teachers themselves. If teachers inform their students about what kind of written feedback will be given and what is expected from students at the onset of writing instruction, students will gain consciousness about their roles in learning and the value of the feedback in the long term.