An Investigation of Academic Preparation 5 Students’ and Instructors’ Preference of ESL Writing Feedback

Abstract

The study examines AP5 students' and instructors' attitudes toward ESL writing feedback. The survey research took place in the English Learning Centre (ELC) at Vancouver Island University (VIU) in the Spring of 2016. VIU is a small degree granting university located in Nanaimo, on Vancouver Island. The English Learning Centre is part of the Faculty of International Education, and ESL students come here to study pre-academic English language skills in order to become ready for their university courses. There are approximately 200 students enrolled in our ELC. The survey results showed an equal preference for typed and handwritten feedback, with female students preferring hand written, and other forms of feedback while male students prefer typed feedback. The instructors surveyed prefer giving feedback orally.

ESL Students’ Perception of Teacher’s Written Feedback Practice in Malaysian Classrooms

“…However, the comments were found to affect the students psychologically as some of them claimed that the feedback received did not make feel good about themselves and were not deemed motivating. It is likely that the feeling arises from the way the comments were worded, a situation that is similar to the study by (Ferris, 2007) who claims that teachers can become abusive through their written feedback, leading to a state of distraught and fear among students, as recorded by (Campbell, 2016), when their writing is harshly commented. This warrants further research to describe what is really happening by analyzing actual written feedback to understand the type and nature of feedback received by Malaysian students.…”

“…Consequently, students were reported to find teachers' feedback as vague, confusing and ineffective (Hyland & Hyland, 2001). What is worse, the feelings of distraught, fear, defensiveness, agitation and embarrassment are portrayed when the writing is abused by the teachers (Campbell, 2016). Despite a number of studies conducted to investigate teachers'…”

Medal and Mission Feedback in ESL Classrooms: A Literature Review

“…Weaver (2006) reiterated that negative comments offered excessively by teachers can be demoralising for learners. Campbell (2016) has inferred that the feelings of distraught, terrified, agitated and embarrassed among learners are caused by teachers' unconstructive comments.…”