The teacher plays a crucial role in providing good written corrective feedback (WCF), especially in Malaysia's education system. Numerous studies were conducted on its effectiveness and students' perceptions, but most were meant for tertiary education. This mixed method study identified the types of WCF provided by teachers during their English as a Second Language (ESL) writing pedagogical practices in five Malaysian secondary schools, and analysed the perceptions of 482 students and 15 teachers towards the provision of WCF. A questionnaire survey was administered to collect quantitative data from students, and focus group discussions were conducted among the teachers to collect qualitative data. Students highlighted that, teachers gave unfocused, metalinguistic WCF, and only held discussions much later. Students preferred teachers to mark all errors, and perceived WCF as important in improving their writing skills. Teachers reported, that they are in the habit of providing unfocused, indirect, and metalinguistic WCF, and held discussions with students only after marking the scripts. They perceived WCF as beneficial in enhancing students' writing skills and teachers' pedagogical practices. In this vein, it is construed, that the perceptions of teachers and students are mostly aligned. Teachers need to be aware of the existing types of WCF and incorporate the appropriate ones in their teaching practices. This study is significant in enriching ESL teachers' pedagogical practices of teaching writing to secondary school students by providing the best practices of WCF, taking into account students' interest, and ultimately create a more significant impact in the ESL writing classroom.

Purpose – This study examined the types of written corrective feedback provided to ESL students in writing classes in Malaysian secondary schools, and their perceptions towards the provision of written corrective feedback in the Malaysian context. Methodology – A survey questionnaire was administered randomly among 720 Form Four students from 10 secondary schools in Penang. The questionnaire was based on a Likert scale and responses were analysed using descriptive statistics. Findings – Results showed that most learners benefited from and preferred direct feedback, and tended to focus on form such as grammar, paragraph organisation, content and clarity of ideas. Students preferred this form of feedback as they were able to understand errors more clearly. It was found that most students were unable to self-regulate their own errors; a majority could not locate their own errors and had become passive learners within the Malaysian schooling system. Significance – The study is significant to Malaysian secondary schools in its effects, depicting the many forms of corrective feedback available in the ESL context that can be employed in school besides the popularized direct feedback used within the syllabus.

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The indigenous Orang Asli in Malaysia who do not use English on a daily basis consequently have low English proficiency and poor writing skills. Their existing EFL situation coupled with the ongoing problems in gaining access to proper education further stifles their language development. This study aims to examine the effectiveness of the genre approach in improving secondary Orang Asli EFL students’ descriptive writing, and their perceptions of using the genre approach as a framework to overcome challenges in learning descriptive writing. This quasi-experimental study was conducted in a secondary school in Pahang, Malaysia. Quantitative data is sourced from students’ pre-test and post-test scores, and also a self-report questionnaire on their perceptions towards the genre approach. The approach shows evidence of improvement in students’ descriptive writing and could have a larger effect than the process approach currently taught in schools. Their perception towards the approach was positive – they were able to improve their writing in the post-test as they believe that the approach has helped them improve their writing skills. Thus, the genre approach for teaching Orang Asli students can be further improved by incorporating more localised content so that it meets the learning needs of Orang Asli students lacking in English writing skills. The approach has the potential to be implemented in both indigenous schools and rural schools with low proficiency students, which provides support to EFL teachers in improving their teaching practices catered to the Orang Asli.