The Effect of Post-text Written Corrective Feedback on Written Grammatical Accuracy: Iranian intermediate EFL learners

Subject Areas :

Mahvan  Ebrahimzade ¹ (Tonekabon Azad University, Tonekabon, Iran)
Davood  Mashhadi Heidar ² (Tonekabon Azad University, Tonekabon, Iran)

Received: 2015-11-13 Accepted : 2015-11-13 Published : 2014-09-01

Keywords: Writing, post-text feedback, direct feedback grammatical accuracy,

Abstract :

The main role and responsibility of second language writing teachers is to help learners to write with minimal errors. To do so, teachers need to provide students with appropriate types of feedback. In this research, the researchers examined the effect of post-text written corrective feedback on written grammatical accuracy of Iranian intermediate EFL learners. In the first phase, Nelson Proficiency Test was administered to 45 intermediate students studying in two different classes at Cambridge Language Institute in Sari. 35 students were selected. Then, they were randomly assigned to experimental and another groups. The research was carried out in 12 sessions. The experimental group received post-text feedback on their writing tasks while the control group received the conventional type. After collecting data, the researchers used paired and independent sample t-tests to analyze the data. The results indicated that those students who received post-text feedback outperformed the ones in the control group. It means that indirect corrective feedback is more beneficial to students than the direct one. Therefore, post-text feedback can be adopted by EFL instructors to promote students’ written grammatical ability.