Students attitudes towards teachers corrective feedback in writing at the boarding high school for ethnic minority students in tuyen quang

1 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES BAN THI KIM THANH STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS TEACHERS’ CORRECTIVE FEEDBACK IN WRITING AT THE BOARDING HIGH SCHOOL FOR ETHNIC MINORITY STUDENTS IN TUYEN QUANG THÁI ĐỘ CỦA HỌC SINH ĐỐI VỚI PHẢN HỒI THÔNG TIN CHỮA LỖI CỦA GIÁO VIÊN TRONG MÔN VIẾT Ở TRƯỜNG THPT DÂN TỘC NỘI TRÚ TUYÊN QUANG MA MINOR THESIS FIELD: METHODOLOGY CODE 601401 HA NOI - 2010 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES BAN THI KIM THANH STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS TEACHERS’ CORRECTIVE FEEDBACK IN WRITING AT THE BOARDING HIGH SCHOOL FOR ETHNIC MINORITYSTUDENTS IN TUYEN QUANG THÁI ĐỘ CỦA HỌC SINH ĐỐI VỚI PHẢN HỒI THÔNG TIN CHỮA LỖI CỦA GIÁO VIÊN TRONG MÔN VIẾT Ở TRƯỜNG THPT DÂN TỘC NỘI TRÚ TUYÊN QUANG MA MINOR THESIS FIELD: METHODOLOGY SUPERVISOR: HOANG THI HONG HAI, MA HA NOI - 2010 TABLE OF CONTENTS Certification………………………………………………………………… i Acknowledgements……………………………………………… ……… ii Abstract………………………………………………………………….… iii PART ONE - INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale of the study 1.2 Aims of the study 1.3 Research questions 1.4 Scope of the study 1.5 Significance of the research 1.6 Methods of the study 1.7 Design of the study Summary PART TWO DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Theoretical backgrounds of feedback 1.1.1 Definitions of feedback 1.1.2 The importance of feedback in L2 writing 1.1.2 Types of feedback to students‟ writing 1.1.2.1 Self-editing 1.1.2.2 Peer feedback 1.1.2.3 Teacher‟s feedback 1.2 The focus of teacher feedback 1.2.1 Types of teacher feedback 1.2.1.1 Marginal versus end feedback 1.2.1.2 Positive versus negative feedback 1.2.1.3 Text – specific versus general feedback 1.2.1.4 Feedback focus on form versus on content 1.2.2 Forms of teacher feedback 1.2.3 Major issues in giving teacher‟s feedback 2.1 Context of the study 2.1.1 The setting of the study 2.1.2 The writing program 2.1.2.1 Overview of the textbooks 2.1.2.2 The teaching of writing skill 2.2 The study 2.2.1 Methodology 2.2.2 Data analysis 2.2.3 Findings and discussion Summary CHAPTER THREE: RECOMMENDATION AND SUGGESTIONS Summary PART THREE CONCLUSIONS 3.1 Summary 3.2 Limitations of the study and suggestions for further studies References Appendices PART ONE - INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale of the study Today English is considered one of the most important factors to the trend of globalization in all fields of life over the world Thus, English as Second Language has been taught in many countries and the demand to use English fluently as well as to acquire four basic skills is becoming essential among all students As a result, methodology has been studied for years to find out the most effective ways of teaching and learning English In Vietnam, high school students have to acquire four skills of English as reading, speaking, listening and writing when they study English Among them, writing is considered the most difficult skill Clearly, Vietnamese students are often much anxious about writing and afraid of making errors in writing classrooms Nevertheless, they need to be encouraged to see it as a means of learning, rather Comment [P1]: Check the clarity in meaning than demonstrating learning In order to this, students need to be provided with opportunities to respond to constructive feedback on their work A review of the literature on writing reveals three major areas of feedback as revision: peer feedback, self-editing and teachers‟ comments as feedback Because of the importance of feedback, there have been a lot of studies that focus on all Comment [P2]: A comma between these two words? aspects relating to feedback As clear, concise feedback matched to standards will promote students‟ achievement, feedback plays a very important role in the teaching of any language Through feedback, the writer learns where he or she has misled and confused the reader by not supplying enough information, illogical organization, lack of development ideas, or something simple like inappropriate word-choice or tense In other words, the writers have opportunities to identify their errors and correct them to make better writing Also, the use of teacher feedback in writing classrooms has been generally supported in the literature review as a Comment [P3]: students'??? potentially valuable aid for its social cognitive, affective and methodological benefits ( Merlin, (1986), Radecki and Swales (1988), Hedge (2000), Ferris and Roberts (2001)) They all believe that teacher feedback is very important and has a great influence on the success of teaching and learning writing As a teacher of English at the Boarding High School for Ethnic Minority Students in Tuyen Quang, the researcher is constantly searching for ways to help her students become more confident and effective writers During writing lessons, she finds that her students often make a lot of errors that increase students‟ anxiety in writing lesson With a view of language learning as a creative construction process, she shares an agreement with Hedge (2000) in the view that error is an inevitable and positive part of that process (p.15) Hedge also claimed that “learners progress faster with meaningful language practice in a rich linguistic environment and with an informed policy of error correction on the part of the teacher” (p.15) This means teacher-response is an essential step in the writing process as he stated “getting feedback from the teacher and from other students in the class enables learners to test Comment [P4]: teacher-respone hypotheses and refine their developing knowledge of the language system” (p.13) That is why the researcher focuses on teacher corrective feedback, which she considers a complex troublesome, but important issue in writing classrooms To have a quick view on this aspect, an observation on the writing lessons of four teachers of English in the researcher‟s school was conducted within a month The result showed that all the four teachers applied mostly teacher corrective feedback to respond to the students‟ writings She wondered if the teachers‟ present feedback matched with students‟ preferences and how students reacted to the feedback they received All above encouraged the researcher to conduct a survey to explore students‟ attitudes towards teacher corrective feedback and recommend Comment [P5]: Reacted to?? 10 teachers of English some suggested solutions to help their students gain more achievement in writing skill 1.2 Aims of the study This research is designed to explore students‟ attitudes toward their teachers‟ corrective feedback at The Boarding High School for Ethnic Minority Students in Tuyen Quang It is expected to achieve the three primary aims: (i) to investigate the teacher feedback-giving practice in writing classes: their responding methods, their feedback focus as well as the feedback types and forms (ii) to investigate the students‟ perceptions of the feedback they receive and their recommendations for improving it (iii) to find out students‟ preferences for teachers‟ corrective feedback as well as to propose some recommendations and suggestions for the teachers to improve their practice in order to respond to the students writing more effectively 1.3 Research questions In order to achieve the mentioned aims above, the following research questions will be included in the study: How the teachers respond to the students‟ writing? What are the students‟ opinions on the feedback they received? Comment [P6]: Not necessary to state here What are EFL students‟ preferences for teachers‟ corrective feedback Comment [P7]: ditto techniques? 1.4 Scope of the study Feedback in writing is such a broad topic that the researcher cannot discuss all the aspects related Therefore, within the framework of a minor 11 thesis, this study focuses only on the teacher corrective feedback in responding to the students‟ writing at the Boarding High School for Ethnic Minority Students in Tuyen Quang Significance of the research The research is carried out with the hope that the results of the study will provide significant insights into both what teachers have actually done as they respond and how the students react to these responses This may lead to suggestions for improving teacher feedback and helping the students to utilize it more successfully in their writing revision Methods of the study To realize the aims, the following methods for data collection were employed in the study Data were collected by means of survey questionnaires for 100 students at The Boarding High School for Ethnic Minority Students in Tuyen Quang The questionnaires included closed-ended questions, open-ended questions and Likert scales Other sources for data collection came from classroom observation, an interview between the researcher and four teachers, and collection of the teachers‟ written comments on the students‟ written work Four sources to data collection will hopefully provide fresh insights into teachers‟ feedback giving practice and the students‟ reactions towards the feedback they received On this basis, some measures will be applied to improve the teacher corrective feedback so that the teacher responds to the students‟ writing more properly Design of the study This study has three main parts: introduction, development, and conclusion 12 The introduction briefly states the rationale of the study, the aims, research questions, scope, methods, the significance and the design of the study The development consists of three chapters: Chapter provides a review of literature on feedback in general and teacher feedback in particular Chapter contains the core part of the study including the context of the study, the methodology, the collection and analysis of the data for the research, the findings and implications Chapter mentions the author‟s recommendations and suggestions for improving teacher feedback in a way that help students‟ to have better writing The conclusion at the end gives a summary of the main issues that have been discussed so far in the study and suggestions for further research PART TWO DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW This chapter focuses on some of the Comment [P9]: Check the format and the font size most important issues in the theories of feedback in general and the teacher feedback in particular Two main features will be concerned, namely, theoretical background of feedback and the focus on teacher feedback Comment [P10]: Should be in italics 13 1.1 Theoretical backgrounds of feedback 1.1.1 Definitions of feedback As far from now, responding to student writing, including giving feedback, is one of the most controversial topics in second language instruction and theory As the importance of feedback, it is considered a fundamental element of a process approach to writing Therefore, there have been attempts to define the term “feedback” According to Ur (1996) “feedback is information that is given to the learner about his or her performance of a learning task, usually with the objective of improving this performance” (p.242) He also distinctly pointed out two main distinguishable components of feedback: assessment and correction This significant definition mentions feedback as an essential step in teaching with an obvious aim at helping students to have better achievement in learning Similarly, Keh (1989) defined feedback as “any output from reader to writer that provides information for revision” (p.18) In other words, it is the comments, questions, and suggestions a reader gives a writer to produce readerbased prose as opposed to writer prose As the writers receive all these, they will discover that good writing involves “an interaction between their ideas, the expressions of the ideas, and their reader‟s perceptions and reactions to the expression” (Chaudron, 1984 p.2) This definition can be seen as one of the most comprehensive as feedback is considered as an effective means of teacher‟s communication to the students about their writing in the final one Some researchers (Ferris, 2003; Leki, 1990) also shared an agreement when noting that feedback is most effective when it is delivered at intermediate stages of the writing process Dreham (1995) also had the same point of view in the case that feedback is interestingly likened to a two-bullock cart His definition is based 51 students may hold unrealistic beliefs about writing because of their limited knowledge and experience; therefore, teachers might try to modify students‟ expectations about the feedback they received Otherwise, students may not be able to interpret the teacher‟s feedback or act on the way the teacher had intended It is strongly recommended that teachers should help students understand how feedback is intended to affect their writing and why it is given in such way Also, teachers should make an effort to explore their students‟ beliefs about writing, feedback, and error correction and to try to bridge any gap between their own and students‟ expectations (Schulz, 1996, 2001) It is teachers‟ responsibility to be aware of their students‟ perceptions of what helps them progress and to somehow incorporate these perceptions in their teaching Therefore, incorporating classroom discussions on error correction, feedback, and writing can be essential in helping high school teachers become familiar with their students‟ beliefs about what constitutes effective feedback to and modifying these beliefs accordingly 3.2 Limitations of the study and suggestions for further studies Despite the researcher‟s great effort, this study still has few limitations (1) The study only considers the teacher corrective feedback in one particular pedagogical situation- writing classes at the Boarding and High school for ethnic minority student in Tuyen Quang Further research should widen the settings to other high schools in Tuyen Quang or the other schools of the same type in mountainous areas (2) The research only focuses on teachers‟ corrective feedback, not all teachers‟ feedback types for student revision in the classroom A further direction should aim at other types of teacher‟s feedback such as teacher‟s oral response in the form of conferencing Also, a comparative and contrastive analysis of these two feedback types should be touched upon in future research 52 (3) This research concentrates only on the high school students‟ attitudes towards teacher corrective feedback in writing Further research could examine the effects of teacher feedback in teaching and learning other skills Despite the limitations above, the author hopes that the study will make a contribution to the better situation of teaching and learning writing skill in the Boarding High school for Ethnic Minority Students in Tuyen Quang 53 REFERENCES Bartels, N (2004) Written peer response in L2 writing, Retrieved on March 22, 2010 from http:/ exchange.state.gov/forum/vols/vol41/No1/p34.htm Chandler, J (2003) The efficacy of various error feedback for improvement in the accuracy and fluency of L2 student writing Journal of Second Language Writing, 12, 267-296 Chaudron, C (1984) The effects of feedback on students‟ composition revisions REFC Journal 15(2), 1-14 Cohen, A D & Cavalcanti, M C (1990) Feedback on compositions: Teacher and students verbal report Cambridge University Press: New York Cohen, L & Manion, L & Morridon, K (2007) Research methods in education Routledge: Taylor and Francis Group London and New York Dreham, P K (1995) Feedback as a two – bullock cart: A case study of teaching writing ELT Journal, 49(2), 160-168 Dornyei, Z (2003) Questionnaires in Second Language Research: Construction, Administration, and Processing Lawrence Erlbaum Associates London Enginalar, H (1993) Student response to teacher feedback in EFL writing System, 21, 193-204 Fathman, A K., & Whalley, E "Teacher response to student writing: Focus on form versus content." In Second Language Writing: Research Insights for the Classroom Ed B Kroll.Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1990 178-90 10.Ferris, D R., (1995) Can advanced ESL students become effective selfeditor? The CATESOL Journal, 8(1), 41-46 54 11 Ferris, D R (1997) The influence of teacher commentary on student revision TESOL Quarterly, 31 (2), 315-339 12.Ferris, D R., and Hedgcock, J (1998) Teaching ESL composition; purpose, process, and practice Lawrence Erlbaum Associates: Mahwah, New Jersey 13.Ferris, D R., & Roberts, B (2001) Error feedback in L2 writing classes: How explicit does it need to be? Journal of Second Language Writing, 10, 161–184 14 Gee, T.C., (1972) Students‟ responses to teacher comments Research in the Teaching of English, 6, 212-219 15.Griffin, C W (1982) Theory of responding to student writing: The state of the art College Composition and Communication, 33, 296-310 16 Hedge, T (2000) Teaching and learning in the Language classroom Oxford University Press 17.Hillocks, G (1986) Research on written composition – New directions for teaching Urbana, III: ERIC Clearinghouse on Reading and Communication Skills and the National Conference on Research in English 18.Huntley, H S (1992) Feedback strategies in intermediate and advanced second language compositions A discussion of the effects of error correction, peer review, and student-teacher conferences on student writing and performance (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No ED 355809) 19.Hyland, K (1990) Providing productive feedback ELT Journal 44, 4, 279285) 20.Hyland, F (2003) Focusing on form: Student engagement with teacher feedback System, 31, 217-230 55 21.Jacobs, G (1987) First experiences with peer feedback on compositions: students and teacher reaction System, 15, 325-333 22.John, B & Stuard, Y, & Denise, C (2005), The effect of different types of corrective feedback on ESL student writing Journal of Second Language Writing 14, 191-205 23.Johnson, D.W & Johnson, R.T (1987) Learning together & alone: Cooperative, competitive, & individualistic learning (2 nd ed.) Englewood 24 Keh, C L (1989) Feedback at the product stage of writing: comments and corrections Guidelines, 11, 2, 18-24 25.Kepper, C G (1991) An experiment in the relationship of types of written feedback to the development of second-language writing skills The Modern Language Journal, 75, 305-313 26.Leki, I (1990) The preferences of ESL students for error correction in college level writing classes Foreign Language Annals, 24, 203-218 27.Leki, I (1991) Teaching second language writing; where we seem to be English Teaching Forum, 29, 8-11, 26 28.Merlin C., W (1986) Students‟ thought processes New York 29 Nugrahenny, T Z (2007) Teacher and Student Attitudes toward Teacher Feedback RELC Journal, 38, 1, 38-52 30 Raimes, A (1983) Techniques in teaching writing Oxford University Press, p139-153 31.Radecki, P M., $ Swales, J M (198) ESL students for error-correction in college-level writing classes Foreign Language Annals, 24, 203-218 32.Reid, J M (1993) Teaching ESL writing Prentice Hall Regents: Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey 33.Rollinson, P (2005) Using peer feedback in the ESL writing class, ELT Journal, 59 (1), 23-29 56 34.Schulz, R A (1996) Focus on form in the foreign language classroom: Students‟ and teachers‟ views on error correction and the role of grammar 35 Semke, H D (1984) Effects of the red pen Foreign Language Annals, 17, 195-202 36 Seow, A (2002) The writing process and process writing In Richards, J C., & Renandya, W.a (Eds), Methodology in Language Teaching – An Anthology of Current Practice Cambridge Univesity Press 37.Sheppard, K (1992) Two feedback types: Do they make a difference? RELC Journal, 23, 103-110 38.Taylor, B (1981) “Content and written form: A two – way street”, TESOL Quarterly, 16, 5-13 39.Truscott, J (1996) The case against grammar correction in L2 writing classes Language Learning, 46, 327-369 40.Truscott, J (2004) Evidence and conjecture on the effects of correction: A response to Chandler Journal of Second Language Writing, 13, 337-343 41.Ur, P., (1996) A Course in Language Teaching: Practice and theory Cambridge University Press 57 APPENDICES Appendix Survey Questionnaires for Students This survey questionnaire is designed for my research into the teacher’s corrective feedback in high school students’ writing Your assistance in completing the survey is highly appreciated All the information provided is reserved for the study purpose, and you can be confident that you will not be identified in any discussion of the data Thank you very much for your cooperation! Ban Thi Kim Thanh, teacher in The Boarding and High School for Ethnic Minority Students in Tuyen Quang I Personal information: *Your gender: Male: Female: *Your age: ………………… *How long have been learning English?: ………….year(s) *How long have you been learning writing?: ……….year(s) II Your opinions on the feedback you received Below are some beliefs that some students have about teacher’s feedback to their written work they received Please put a tick in the appropriate box or give short answers in the space provided How important is teacher feedback to your writing? a not important b important c very important 58 How many times does your teacher respond to each of your written works? a never b almost never c sometimes d often e very often d other (please specify):………………………………………… How helpful is the teacher feedback in the following forms to your revision? Forms of feedback Not helpful at Helpful Very all a Questions b Statement c Imperative d Exclamation e Making the errors, but not actually correcting them Do you find it is easy to understand your teacher feedback? YES If NO, can you give the reason(s) why? a feedback is too general to understand b teachers use new vocabulary and structures in feedback c teachers‟ including hedges in feedback confuses me (e.g., perhaps, may be…) d teachers use new feedback strategies What strategies you use to solve your problem? a asking the teacher or peers for help helpful 59 b consulting a grammar book or dictionary c doing nothing d others (please specify):…………………………………………… III Your preferences for teacher feedback on writing Read each statement and then decide if you: (1) strongly agree, (2) agree, (3) neither agree nor disagree, (4) disagree, (5) strongly disagree Please write the number of your response in the space provided When responding to your written work, teacher should always: Items a point out errors in grammar (verb tenses, subject/verb agreement, article use…etc.) b point out errors in spelling c point out errors in punctuation d point out errors in vocabulary choice e make comments on the organization of the paper f make comments on the ideas expressed in the paper g use a set of correction of proof-reading symbols h use a red – colored pen Answer the following questions by circling the number of the appropriate response from question to question 7 What kind of feedback would you prefer to receive? a negative feedback b positive feedback c both of them How you want your teacher to indicate an error in your written work? 60 a By crossing what is incorrect and writing the correct word or structure b By showing where the error is and giving clue about how to correct it c By only showing where the error is d By ignoring the errors in grammar, spelling, punctuation…etc., and only paying attention to the ideas expressed e Other (please specify): ………………………………………… If there are many errors in a paper, what you want your English teacher to do? a Correct all errors, major and minor b Correct all errors the teacher considers major, but not the minor ones c Correct most but not necessary all of the major errors if there are many of them d Correct only a few of the major errors no matter how many there are e Correct all repeated errors whether major or minor f Correct no errors and respond only to the idea expressed 61 Appendix List of semi-structured interview questions Do you think teacher‟s feedback is important in teaching and writing? Why or Why not? How often you give feedback to your students? What types and forms of feedback you often use when responding to your students? What features of writing (e.g grammar, spelling, punctuation, vocabulary choice, organization of the paper, the ideas expressed…) often you focus your feedback on? Why? How you indicate in students‟ written work? What would you if there are many errors in students‟ written work? Do you correct all the errors or some or only give cues? 62 Appendix Table 1: General objectives to achieve in the writing section in Grade 10-Grade 12 Grade 10 Write texts of 100-120 words on familiar topics based on models or prompts for personal or basic communicative purposes Table 2: Specific objectives to achieve in the writing section in Grade 10-Grade 12 Units Grade 10 Writing a narrative Filling in a form Writing background Writing a letter of complaint about 63 10 11 Writing a set of instructions Writing a confirmation letter Writing about advantages and disadvantages of the mass media Writing an informal letter: giving directions Describing information from a table Writing a letter of invitation Writing a letter of acceptance or refusal 64 12 Writing a profile 13 Describing a film 14 Writing an announcement 15 Describing a city 16 Describing a chart ... focuses only on the teacher corrective feedback in responding to the students? ?? writing at the Boarding High School for Ethnic Minority Students in Tuyen Quang Significance of the research The research... the study 2.1.1 The setting of the study The study was carried out at the Boarding and High school for Ethnic Minority Students in Tuyen Quang The school is located in Tuyen Quang Town It was... feedback in one particular pedagogical situation- writing classes at the Boarding and High school for ethnic minority student in Tuyen Quang Further research should widen the settings to other high schools