An Investigation of Learners’ Perception, Practices and Preferences of Written Corrective Feedback in Paragraph Writing: Elemo Secondary School Grade 11 in Focus

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate learners’ perception, practices and preferences of written corrective feedback (WCF) in paragraph writing. To achieve the intended objective, descriptive research design was employed. The study used mixed research methods. Two EFL teachers using purposive sampling and 114 students using lottery system were selected to fill in the questionnaire. To collect the data for the study, four research instruments were employed. These are questionnaire, classroom observation, semi-structured interview and document analysis. Semi-structured interview questions were used to investigate the EFL learners’ perception, WCF practices and learners’ preferences of WCF on their paragraph writing. Moreover, document analysis was used in order to find out the actual practices of paragraph writings and WCF provision. Then, students’ questionnaire data were analyzed quantitatively using simple descriptive statistics such as frequency and percentages after the data are coded and entered in to SPSS Version 20, whereas interview and document analysis data were analyzed qualitatively. Accordingly, the findings of the study indicated that EFL learners have negative perception on receiving WCF on their paragraph writing practices and their WCF implementation practices is not satisfactory. The study also indicated that because of their negative perceptions, their paragraph writing practices and WCF were inadequate due to its contributing factors such as lacks of the necessary vocabulary or phrases or sentences, weak grammar usages, inappropriate, coherence and cohesion. Furthermore, EFL learners prefer to be given only direct WCF such as grammar and content edition, and sample written paragraphs which make them passive in their paragraph writing practices. Finally, it is recommended that EFL teachers should consider learners’ perceptions and preferences of WCF in their paragraph writing practices.