Analysis of Teacher-written Corrective Feedback in Second Language Writing Pedagogy in Secondary Schools, Bulilima, Zimbabwe

Abstract

This study investigated the teachers' practice on written corrective feedback as well as the students' response to it in a bid to find practical solutions to the problem of low performance in English composition writing at "O" Level in Zimbabwe. The study sought to find out the nature of corrective feedback that "O" Level students get from their composition teachers and how these students respond to it. In this qualitative research, seven informants ("O" Level students) were interviewed; the researchers used a semi-structured interview schedule to address them and their English exercise books were also analyzed using a document analysis guide designed by the researchers. The study concluded that the composition teacher marked the compositions thoroughly highlighting most of the errors for students' benefit. The teacher's focus on feedback was in line with the syllabus demands. The teacher also satisfied the Feed Up, Feed Back and the Feed Forward types of effective feedback. She had strength on mark allocation which acted as student guide to their stance in composition writing. However, although the students largely benefited from the teacher's corrective written feedback as well as the oral feedback, some of them Muchemwa et al.; JESBS, 31(3): 1-13, 2019; Article no.JESBS.42527 2 failed to get the maximum benefit because they could not understand the correction codes. It is therefore imperative for composition teachers to provide students with a correction code elaboration whenever using a marking correction code. Original Research Article

College Students' Perceptions of an Automated Writing Evaluation as a Supplementary Feedback Tool in a Writing Class

“…Teacher feedback is an essential key in the writing process. Teacher feedback has been identified as very beneficial to improve the students' writing performances (Muchemwa et al, 2019) and as a characteristic of a successful teacher in various subjects and classes (Gan et al, 2018). Teacher feedback can be given in various forms such as direct or indirect, focus or unfocused, as well as oral or written, etc.…”

“…However, effective feedback from teachers has been seen as the most valuable feedback. Many students cannot achieve the maximum benefit of teacher feedback when teachers often offer error codes unaccompanied by any description (Muchemwa et al, 2019). Previous studies have also shown that many students do not have a favorable view of the code or general remarks made by the teacher (Ferguson, 2011).…”

Investigating EFL students’ linguistic problems using Grammarly as automated writing evaluation feedback

“…Feedback is critical for improving students' writing knowledge, skills, strategies, and motivation (Graham et al, 2015). However, students cannot fully benefit from teacher feedback since teachers usually deliver mistake codes without providing context (Muchemwa et al, 2019). As a result, students have few opportunities to receive feedback on their written work.…”