ALLS vol 7 no 3 2016

An Investigation of the Relationship between Iranian EFL Learners’ Cultural Intelligence and Their Performance on the IELTS Listening Modules Indonesian EFL Students’ Perspective on Writ

Advances in Language and Literary Studies

Online ISSN: 2203-4714

Advances in Language and Literary Studies [ALLS]

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Andrew Weiler, Holmesglen Institute, Australia

Brian Tomlinson, Leeds Metropolitan University, United Kingdom

John I Liontas, University of South Florida, United States

Mark Pegrum, The University of Western Australia, Australia

NS Prabhu, National University of Singapore, Singapore

Editorial Board

Alex Ho-Cheong Leung, Northumbria University, Newcastle, United KingdomAli Miremadi, California State University, United States

Andrés Canga Alonso, Universidad de La Rioja, Spain

Anjali Pandey, Salisbury University, United States

Anthony J Liddicoat, University of South Australia, Australia

Bakhtiar Naghdipour, Girne American University, Cyprus

Canzhong Wu, Macquarie University, Australia

Chan Swee Heng, University Putra Malaysia, Malaysia

Chamkaur Singh Gill, Bond University, Australia

Darryl Jones, Trinity College, Ireland

Dat Bao, Monash University, Australia

Fadil S Elmenfi, Omar Al-Mukhtar University/Derna, Libya

Holi Ibrahim Holi, Rusaq College of Applied Sciences, Oman

I Wayan Arka, Australian National University, Australia

Jason Brown, The University of Auckland, New Zealand

Jayakaran Mukundan, University Putra Malaysia, Malaysia

Karim Hajhashemi, James Cook University, Australia

Leila Lomashvili, Shawnee State University, United States

Kylie Cardell, Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia

Mahmoud M Gewaily, Minia University, Egypt

Mohammad Hossein Keshavarz, Near East University, Cyprus

Mohammad Reza Shams, University of Kashan, Iran, Islamic Republic ofMounir Jilani Ben Zid, Sultan Qaboos University, Oman

Natasha Pourdana, Gyeongju University, Korea, Republic of

Neil Anderson, James Cook University, Australia

Shaofeng Li, The University of Auckland, New Zealand

Siamak Babaee, University of Kashan, Iran, Islamic Republic of

Vahed Zarifi, Iran, Islamic Republic of

Wayne DeFehr, University of Alberta, Canada

Wisdom Agorde, University of Alberta, Canada

An Investigation of the Relationship between Iranian EFL Learners’ Cultural

Intelligence and Their Performance on the IELTS Listening Modules

Indonesian EFL Students’ Perspective on Writing Process: A Pilot Study

The Effect of Teachers’ Written Corrective Feedback (WCF) Types on Intermediate

EFL Learners’ Writing Performance

Practical Functional Approach to Quality Assessment in Subtitling: Pocahontas II –

Case Study

An Evaluation of Effective Communication Skills Coursebook

Diction and Expression in Error Analysis Can Enhance Academic Writing of L2

University Students

Then and Now: Approaches to Understanding Children's Literature in Two Volumes

The Impact of Problem-Based Learning on Iranian EFL Learners’ Speaking

Proficiency

Loghman Ansarian, Ali Akbar Adlipour, Mehrnoush Akhavan Saber, Elmira

Shafiei

84-94Designing an ESP Curriculum for Saudi Science Students

Between Home and Exile A Reading of the Exilic Experience of the Iraqi Poet Adnan

Al-Sayegh

The Aesthetic Values of Silence in Two Plays by Harold Pinter

Edward Said’s Worldliness, Amateurism and Heterotopia: Negotiating the

Interdisciplinarity of Literary Theory, Canonicity, and Paradigm

The Perception of EFL High School Students in Using of Computer Technology in the

Process of Learning: Merits and Demerits

Epiphanic Awakenings in Raymond Carver’s Cathedral and Alice Walker’s Everyday

Use

Google Translate as a Supplementary Tool for Learning Malay: A Case Study at

Universiti Sains Malaysia

Demonized Learners in Sociocultural Theory

Towards a New Model for Implied Metaphor Translation: English Translations of Al

Muallaqat

Digitized Ethnic Hate Speech: Understanding Effects of Digital Media Hate Speech on

Citizen Journalism in Kenya

Discourse Analysis of Tennessee Williams’ The Glass Menagerie

William Golding’s Iconoclastic Views about the Neanderthal Man in The Inheritors

Analysis of Variance in Vocabulary Learning Strategies Theory and Practice: A Case

Study in Libya

The Effects of Pre-Reading Activities on Reading Comprehension of Iranian EFL

Learners

Synonymy in Jordanian Arabic

Linguistic Features of Humor in Academic Writing

The Influence of Ḥāfiẓ on Muḥammad Taqī Bahār

Advances in Language and Literary Studies

ISSN: 2203-4714

Vol 7 No 3; June 2016

Australian International Academic Centre, Australia

English Language Teaching in Rural Areas: A Scenario and

Problems and Prospects in Context of Bangladesh

Md.Mahroof HossainDepartment of English, Z.H Sikder University of Science & Technology, Bangladesh

E-mail: mahroof.hossainsarker@gmail.com

Doi:10.7575/aiac.alls.v.7n.3p.1 Received: 02/01/2016 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.7575/aiac.alls.v.7n.3p.1 Accepted: 15/02/2016

Abstract

Language is one of the medium of expressing our ideas, feelings and emotions And if we think about language in

present world then English is one of the most used languages in the world and English is used as a second language in

Bangladesh English is introduced here at the primary level and its inclusion continues till the tertiary level of

education Most of the students of the primary schools in rural areas are weak in English language due to lack of skilled

and trained teachers who are familiar to the modern methods and approaches of teaching and lack of materials for

teaching in the classroom Primary level English curriculum implementation is essential in Bangladesh to achieve the

set English language competency in the rural areas Students in the rural areas are performing poorly in English

compared to their urban counterparts Statistics showed that there was a gulf of difference between the facilities enjoyed

by rural schools and urban schools The study explores the challenges of teaching English language in rural areas in

context of Bangladesh This study investigated the factors affecting student’s performance in English language in rural

areas Data were collected using interviews, classroom observation and questionnaire Result of the study reveals that

students were highly motivated to learn English for future expectations such as local and international communication,

academic advancement and employment prospects It also provide a scenario of English teaching system in rural areas

of Bangladesh as well as the problems and prospects of English language in perspective of Bangladesh

Keywords: English language, rural areas, education, learning and teaching, competency

1 Introduction

Language is one of the most useful tools we have as humans Without it we could not think of thoughts expressible to

others, nor could we engage in the activities that commonly take place in the society we build ourselves (Di Pietro,

1994) Language is very important in education The high status of English within a global economy of languages has

meant that English language education is increasingly being promoted in international development initiatives A broad

goal of English language programs is that of developing the communicative ability to convey and interpret a message

via written or spoken modalities to another person In our country, there is no doubt that we still have not established a

standard of education in schools and colleges There are too many problems in our country that have to be eradicated to

embrace a comprehensive education system through which we can expect ourselves to be a richer nation We must not

forget that students today will become the key members of our country who would be responsible for the overall

development of our country If we do not have good teacher, there is no way we could expect to have a balanced society

in future And if there are not enough good teachers in English, then there would be imbalance that the urban area

students will be good at English, but students in rural areas would always be deprived of getting or learning English

properly The main objectives of teaching English in Bangladesh are to enable students to understand simple

commands, instructions and requests in English and also carry them out (National curriculum and Textbook Boards

2006) Most of the students of rural schools are unable to attain the primary English language competencies due to

prevailing challenges in our education system The main objective of this research is to find out the challenges and

problems and prospects of English language teaching in rural areas in context of Bangladesh

2 Factors that making a difference in performance of English language in rural and urban area

In the present world, education is the most important aspect in society development For education school is considered

to play a major role in ensuring the successful of the development It is not only the institution but also the students

have to play to be proactive with an appropriate futuristic set of mind The students also need to have good skills as well

as they also need to be active in co-curriculum activity along with high academic achievement Apart from all this

factors the environment where the student’s lives can determine their performance in their studies In short, we can say

that reason for the variations in their performance in learning and achievement are geographical location, resources,

availability of technology and also the quality of teachers

Urban area relates to the area that are surrounding by cities and it is well populated areas compared to rural area which

is sparsely populated areas and it usually farmland or country areas Recent educational research has examined rural and

Flourishing Creativity & Literacy

ALLS 7(3):1-12, 2016 2

urban differences in their achievement Many educators, researchers, legislators and the general public believe that students from rural schools mostly receive an education that is inferior compared to the students that live in the urban areas And if it is about the question teaching or the matter about the acquisition of second language that is English the situation is worst

There are many factors that contribute to the differences of performance in English language between students in rural and urban areas

2.1 Family factors

To determine the child performance their family plays a key role Students in rural areas have low performance compared to students in urban areas because it is relate to their parents education.Some experts believe that parents expectations is the most influencial factor affecting youth decisions to pursue education (Esterman and Hedland,1995; smith,Beaulieu and Seraphine,1995)

2.2 Financial factor

The students’ background relates to low socio-economic factor of their family also one of the factor that affect their performance in English language Most of the students in rural areas come from low income family so that they cannot get enough educational resources compared to students at urban areas Students who have access to more facilities or resources are getting advantage compared to those from poor families

2.3 Logistic support

Rural areas educational institutions lack enough logistic support compared to urban area educational institutions Lack

of facilities and resources contribute to the poor performances in English language of the students in rural area

2.4 Less qualified teachers

We do not have enough qualified teachers in rural areas Lack of qualified and trained English teachers in rural areas put poor impact on students English language competence than the urban areas students

2.5 Adequate books

Apart from the good teachers, there are also not adequate books in the educational institutions of rural areas If we do not bring good and updated English books for students, we cannot guarantee that they would learn the best

3 Principles of English Language teaching

There are certain principles of English language teaching, which are as follows:

3.1 Know your learners- their language background, their language proficiency, their experiential background

3.2 Identify the learning outcomes including the language demands of the teaching and learning

3.2 Maintain the same learning outcome for all the learners

3.3 Begin with context embedded tasks which make the abstract concrete

3.4 Provide multiple opportunities for authentic language use with a focus on students using academic language

3.5 Ensure a balance between receptive and productive language

3.6 Include opportunities for monitoring and self- evaluation

Phillipson (1992) identifies each of these tenets a fallacy which are as follows:

The monolingual Fallacy

The native speaker fallacy

The early start fallacy

The maximum exposure fallacy

The subtractive fallacy

4 Teaching English language in different level of education in Bangladesh

In Bangladesh education level is categorized into four stages: Primary, Secondary, Higher Secondary and finally tertiary level In rural area of Bangladesh we found Primary, Secondary and Higher secondary educational institution and most

of the tertiary level educational institution is situated in urban area So we will look at the scenario of English language

in primary, secondary and higher secondary educational institutions

4.1 Teaching English language at primary school of Bangladesh

Jean Piaget, Lev Vygotsky and Jerome Bruner differ in important ways about their explanations of how children develop and learn, but they all agree that cognitive development of the child is linked to construction of knowledge in the brain within a social context (Banu, 2009) They also agree that language development linking sounds, words and meaning as a means of communication is a critical element of cognitive development

The objectives of English curriculum in Primary school are to:

a Understand simple command/instructions/requests in English and carry them out

b Speak and understand simple English according to their age level

ALLS 7(3):1-12, 2016 3

c Read and comprehend text books according to their age group and level

d Write alphabets, words, numbers, simple sentences, passages, paragraphs, informal letters and numbers according to their age group and level

4.2 English language teaching at the secondary and higher secondary educational institutions

It is generally agreed that the ability of our learners in English classes, especially at the secondary level is not satisfactory, due to some underlying factors The syllabus and curriculum are examination oriented and prevent students from acquiring language competency In rural area English language achievement is very poor regarding the urban area There are many reasons behind this poor performance Lack of trained teachers, ineffective course, lack of good deal of content, weak base, large student size and lack of student’s active participation are some of the main reasons why the students are lacking behind in English language in secondary and higher secondary in rural areas compared to urban areas

5 Literature Review

The teaching and learning process involves two active participants in the classroom—the teacher and the learner and that language learning do not fall entirely on the teacher The students must also assume more responsibility for the learning process (Quest, 2000) It is through interactions with each other that teachers and students work together to create intellectual and practical activities that shape both the form and content of the target subject Furthermore, the English teacher is a figure in the language course Literature indicates clearly that it is the teacher who sets the tone for learning activities (Allen and Valette, 1997, Quest, 2000)

Teaching materials are very important in the whole process of teaching and learning to any subject They make learning more pleasant to the students because they offer a reality of experiences, which stimulates self activity and imagination

on the part of the students Attitudes refer to the sets of beliefs that the learner holds towards members of the target group and also towards his own culture (Brown, 2000) Language attitude is an important concept because it plays a key role in language learning In education, attitudes are considered both as input and output Motivation is the most used concept for explaining failure or success of a learner Also motivation has been regarded as one of the main factors that influence the speed and amount of success of foreign language learners (Gardener, 2006) It has been seen that passive learning, lack of adequate materials for teaching, motivation of the students and attitudes towards learning keeping the rural area students inefficient in English language compared to urban students

6 Problem statement

Bangladesh has a single unified educational system However, it has diversity in the local areas in terms of religion, culture, socio-economic conditions etc As Bangla is spoken by 99% of the people, the practical use of English, especially in the rural areas, has become extremely limited Bangladesh has had a long period of academic attachment

to English to the acquisition of English as a second language Against such a background, however, it is generally agreed that the standard of competency of our learners in English is not satisfactory in comparison to the time they expend in learning the language In rural area of Bangladesh it has been seen that most of the students in this areas could not pass their public exam because of the failure in English subject

6.1 Overall objectives of the study

a To identify the differences between rural and urban area teaching facilities and system

b To find out the reasons behind the incompetency of the students in English subjects regarding the rural area

c To find out the teachers and students demand to the government for improving English achievement at the rural areas educational institutions

6.2 Importance of the study

The knowledge of English is more critical as well as important in the context of the global marketplace, the knowledge

of society and in the age of digital information technology, Dr Mohammad Farashuddin (2011), former Governer of Bangladesh Bank, said ‘ Proficiency in English is a must for the nation to abolish poverty, hunger, disease, illiteracy and indignity This research is aimed at making contributions towards the quality improvements of English education in rural of Bangladesh By clarifying the factors that influence students’ English achievement , this study attempts to suggests a way of how to improve achievement and effective English policy input in rural area of Bangladesh

6.3 Research Questions

a What are the factors affecting students’ English achievement at the rural area educational institutions students in Bangladesh?

b What is the actual situation of students’ achievement in both rural and urban settings?

c Which policy inputs are useful in improving students ‘English achievement’?

of the oral evidence was noted immediately on the spot.

6.6 Limitations of the study

The research was made in Shariatpur region of Bangladesh, interviewed the stakeholders, handed questionnaires and observed the classrooms, related to the research Most of the work consisted of making note down immediately but did not focus on religious as well as political affairs this area Moreover, as the study was conducted within some chosen schools, the results of the research cannot describe the entire picture of the rural area English education of Bangladesh

ALLS 7(3):1-12, 2016 5

Map of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh screening location of the research area

Research areaShariatpur District

6.9 Data Analysis

The data was analyzed by using the percentage method The study was conducted in October 2015

7 Results and Discussions

As the questionnaires were provided to the subject, they have given different opinions for the low level achievement of English language in rural area

The factors can be categorized as five main sections:

Lack 1Figure

7.2 Lack of English teacher

From all respondents 75% believe that well-trained qualified English teacher do not come to rural area because rural area do not have the facilities like the urban area 20% believe that qualified English teacher do not come to rural area because of poor salary 5% believe that teachers are not interest to teach in rural area educational institutions because they think it may have an effect in their personality

75%

20%

5%

1st Qtr2nd Qtr3rd Qtr

teacherEnglishtrainedofLack 2Figure

7.3 Proper Teaching method

From all the respondents, 54% think that rural teacher do not imply the right way of teaching method so the students are not interested to hear the teacher lesson 46% think that teachers do not have any lesson plan before a class and for this reason they could not imply the proper teaching method in classroom

54%

2nd Qtr

MethodTeaching

Proper 3Figure

ALLS 7(3):1-12, 2016 7

7.4 Lack of conducive environment

84% respondents gave their opinion that environment plays a key role in learning a second language which is mostly absent in rural areas schools and colleges and its classroom.16% think that rural atmosphere needs to be improved for learning second language

EnvironmentConducive

ofLack 4Figure

7.5 Lack of library facilities

Among all respondents, 30% consent that there is not enough library facilities, 40% consent there is not enough updated books and 30% consent that unavailability of the quality books is another reason for poor English achievement in rural English

30%

40%

30%

1st Qtr2nd Qtr3rd Qtr

FacilitiesLibrary

ofLack 5FigureApart from this opinion the students also give opinion about the different activities that is done in the rural area educational institutions regarding to improve the students receptive and productive skills

7.6 Speaking exercise in the classroom

From all the students that has given their opinions, 5% consent that in rural areas English teachers always make speaking exercise in the class, while 20% consent that English teachers sometimes make speaking exercise in the classrooms and 75% admit that English teacher rarely make speaking exercise in the class

ALLS 7(3):1-12, 2016 8

Classroomthe

inExerciseSpeaking

6Figure

7.7 Writing exercise in the classroom

Students of rural area of this region claim that teacher don’t make regular writing exercise From all the students , 5% consent that English teacher always make writing exercise regularly while 45% sometimes make writing exercise in the class whether 50% think that English teacher rarely make writing exercise in the class

classroomthe

inexerciseWriting

7Figure

7.8 Reading Exercise in the classroom

From all the students 20% consent that English teacher always make reading exercise in the class whether 70% consent that sometimes English teacher make reading exercise and 10% think that English teacher rarely make reading exercise

in the class

ALLS 7(3):1-12, 2016 9

classroomthe

inexerciseReading

8Figure

8.9 Listening exercise in the classroom

All students claim that no listening practice is done in the classroom because there is no listening material for the teacher to use it

9 Classroom observation checklist

From the classroom observation it can be analyzed that rural area teachers found difficulty in classroom management, time management, technique of evaluation and ways of giving feedback

9.1 Classroom Management

From the observation of classroom in the rural area of educational institutions, it was found that 4% teachers are excellent in terms of classroom management, 10% teachers are good in terms of classroom management, 35% are in average performer and 35% are in below average conditions where 16% teachers are totally unable in terms of classroom management

ManagementClassroom

9Figure

ALLS 7(3):1-12, 2016 10

ManagementTime

10Figure

9.3 Technique of evaluation

From the observation of sample classroom, it was found that 10% teachers followed excellent evaluation technique, 10% teachers are good in using technique of evaluation, 15% are in average, 35% are in below average and 30% are totally unable to use technique of evaluation as a result they can’t evaluate students learning

Evaluationof

Technique

11Figure

ALLS 7(3):1-12, 2016 11

FeedbackGiving

12Figure9.5 Use of Modern Technology

From the observation, it was found that 6% are excellent in using modern technology in the classroom, 6% are good in using modern technology,6% are average and 82% teachers have no skills in using modern technology

TechnologyModern

ofUse 13Figure

10 Recommendation

In spite of the rural area educational institutions and the students of these institutions are lacking behind in English language proficiency certain steps can be taken to improve the scenario of English language proficiency of rural area students and to bring a revolutionary change in the rural area educational institutions atmosphere These are:

a Organize English subject related training for the teacher

b Proper management of classroom from beginning to end

c Try to focus on the four skills of English language that is reading, writing, listening and speaking

d Encourage the students to do exercise based on four skills

e Provide enough teaching aid for the teacher

f Implementation of proper teacher-learning techniques mentioned in the curriculum

g Encourage the students to become active in the classroom

h Learning objectives should be set before any course is introduced

i Make sure that the teacher made proper lesson plan for each class

j Recruitment of more English teacher is needed to decline teacher-student ratio

ALLS 7(3):1-12, 2016 12

k A stimulating atmosphere for language teaching can be created by displaying posters, charts, maps, advertisements, time-table and signs together with works produced by the students themselves in the classroom

References

Allen, E, and Valette, R (1997) Classroom Technique: Foreign Languages and English as a second Languages and

English as a second Language San Diego, Harecourt Brace Jovanovich.

Banu, L.F.A (2009) Problems and Misconceptions Facing the Primary Language Education in Bangladesh: An Analysis of Curricular and Pedagogic practices, BRAC University Journal, 6(1-10),6 Institute of Educational Development, BRAC University

Brown, H.D (2000) Principle of Language Learning and teaching, New Jersey, NY : Mcgraw-Hill

Di Pietro, R (1994) Helping people do things with English In Kral, T Teacher development: Making the right moves, Washington, DC: English language programmes Division

Esterman, A and Hedlund, R (1995) Smith Beaulieu and seraphine X

Farashuddin (2011) 5th Bangladesh English Language Teachers Association (BELTA) International conference at city’s BIAM Foundation, Dhaka

Gardner, R.C (1985a) Social Psychology and Second Language learning: The Role of attitude and motivation

London: Edward Arnold Publishers

Garder, R.C (2006) The social educational model of second language acquisition: A research paradigm EUROSLA

Yearbook, 6(1) 237-260.

Hasan, K (2005) A Linguistic study of English language curriculum at the secondary level in Bangladesh A

communicative Approach to curriculum Development Language in India, 48, 1-240.

Krashen, S (2002- First internet edition, December-2002) Second Language Acquisition and Second Language

Learning University of Southern California.

National curriculum and Textbook Board (2006) Compulsory curriculum (Primary education) Retrieved January 25, (2012)

Philipson, R (1992) Linguistic Imperialism Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Quist, D (2000) Primary teaching methods London: Macmillan.

Advances in Language and Literary Studies

ISSN: 2203-4714

Vol 7 No 3; June 2016

Australian International Academic Centre, Australia

An Investigation of the Relationship between Iranian EFL

Learners’ Cultural Intelligence and Their Performance on the

IELTS Listening Modules

Arezoo RafieEnglish Department, University of Zanjan, IranE-mail: arezoo.rafie24@gmail.comRobab Khosravi (Corresponding author)English Language Department, University of Zanjan, P O Box 45195-313, Zanjan, Iran

E-mail: rkhosravi@znu.ac.irMahdi NasiriEnglish Language Department, University of Zanjan, P O Box 45195-313, Zanjan, Iran

E-mail: mahdinasiri@znu.ac.ir

Doi:10.7575/aiac.alls.v.7n.3p.13 Received: 05/01/2016 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.7575/aiac.alls.v.7n.3p.13 Accepted: 19/02/2016

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the relationship between Iranian EFL Learners’ Cultural intelligence (CQ) and their

performance on the IELTS Listening Module Sixty advanced EFL students majoring in English translation at

University of Zanjan were matched for the study through the Oxford Quick Placement Test Cultural Intelligence Scale

developed and validated by Ang et al (2007) was used to assess the participants' cultural intelligence The IELTS

Listening Module and the Cultural Intelligence Scale were administered to the participants who were willing to take

part in this study The correlational analysis of the results revealed that there exists a statistically significant relationship

between EFL learners’ CQ and their performance on IELTS Listening Module Furthermore, running multiple

regression analysis indicated that of the four components of CQ (i.e metacognitive, cognitive, behavioral, and

motivational CQs), motivational CQ is the best predictor forthe listening ability of EFL learners The findings of the

study highlight the importance of incorporating programs for teaching culture in the EFL classroom, as enhancing

cultural intelligence related skills at schools and universities can promote better communicational skills

Keywords: Culture, cultural intelligence (CQ), teaching culture, listening comprehension, EFL learners

1 Introduction

Inarguably, nowadays English is used as a lingua franca, a common means of communication between peoples of

various languages and cultures In such context, cultural knowledge is considered not only as an indispensable aspect of

communicative competence, but also an integral aspect of second language pedagogy In other words, learning the

target language's culture has proved to be both the means and ends for language teaching Attempting to learn a new

language, learners are expected to familiarize themselves with the target culture in order to become proficient in that

language Some EFL learners may not be adequately knowledgeable or familiar with the cultural norms of the target

language; this may result in an invisible communicative barrier that considerably affects their communication skills In

this regard, for the students who learn English as a foreign language, curriculum designers should incorporate sufficient

materials in the course books so as to enhance the students' cultural competence

Increasing EFL learners’ cultural intelligence (CQ) can facilitate the learning process in the English classroom Cultural

intelligence is defined as the individual's ability to function effectively in multicultural environments The reason for

including teaching culture in the curricula is because it provides teachers and learners with an insight to cultural norms

and differences In fact, enhancing the students' CQ not only promotes better communicative skills, but also facilitates

academic success

On the other hand, listening comprehension is a complex process and crucial in the development of foreign language

competence While the importance of CQ in learning a foreign (or a second) language is emphasized by language

teachers and curriculum designers, studies that exclusively address the relationship between CQ and receptive skills

such as listening and reading are not many in the Iranian context This study investigates the relationship between

Iranian EFL learner’s cultural intelligence and their performance on the IELTS listening module

Flourishing Creativity & Literacy

ALLS 7(3):13-20, 2016 14

2 Previous Studies

2.1 The Importance of Culture in Language Teaching

What is the definition of culture in general, and its place in language teaching in particular? Giroux (2000) defines culture as "the site where identities are constructed, desires mobilized, and moral values shaped." (p 132) Richards and Schmidt consider culture as "the set of practices, codes and values that mark a particular nation or group: the sum of a nation or group’s most highly thought of works of literature, art, music, etc." (2010, p 151) Some scholars, (Chastain, 1988; Thanasoulas, 2001, Kramsch, 2013) have distinguished between Capital C and small c cultures Kramsch argues that Big C culture is "the hallmark of the cultivated middle-class" and "the culture traditionally taught with standard national languages." This includes "teaching about the history, the institutions, the literature and the arts of the target country […] bound up with notions of the ‘good’ and ‘proper’ way of life" (2013, p.66) In other words, Big C culture incorporates the nation's record of its historical, cultural, literary, political, and economic heritage Small c culture, on the other hand, "includes the native speakers’ ways of behaving, eating, talking, dwelling, their customs, their beliefs and values" This highlights "the sociolinguistic appropriateness of language" (Kramsch, 2013, p.67), and teaching culture is gaining its deserving place in language learning and pedagogy (Baker, 2011) According to Richards and Schmidt,

The cultural dimension of language learning is an important dimension of second language studies Education is seen as a process of socialization with the dominant culture In foreign language teaching the culture of the language may be taught as an integral part of the curriculum (2010, p 151)

Kramsch also observes that,

Despite the considerable amount of research dedicated to defining the nature, importance and place of culture in foreign language study (see e.g., Byrnes, 2002;Kramsch 1993, 1997, 1998; Lange & Paige, 2003; Risager, 2006, 2007), culture remains a hotly debated issue in the teaching of foreign languages around the world The debates involve school curricula, language teachers and language learners (2013, p 58)

In this regard, numerous studies in the literature argue that language and culture are interrelated (Dai, 2011; Heileman& Kaplan, 1985; Kramsch, 1998; Peck, 1998; Savignon&Sysoyev, 2002; Sellami, 2000; Zhao, 2010; Thanasoulas, 2001), and that they are best acquired together (Schulz, 2007) Therefore, teaching culture in the EFL classroom is often regarded as an integral component of most language courses (Brown, 2000)

Various justifications have been proposed for the significance of culture in second/ foreign language learning According to Gence and Bada (2005) teaching L2 is erroneous and incomplete if L2 students know little about the people who speak the target language or the country in which the target language is spoken, language learning will seem senseless Byram and Flemming (1998) also declare that target language culture should be taught along with the other four skills Pulverness (2003) suggests that language may seem senseless for foreign language learners if they know nothing about the people who speak the target language McDevitt (2004) argues that it is impossible to imagine learning another language disregarding its culture, since learning a foreign languageremains a challenge as it explores the norms, habits, and values cherished by the speakers of the target language As language reflects cultural norms, studying language inherently exposes learners to the target culture According to Gao (2006), “the interdependence of language learning and cultural learning is so evident that one can conclude that language learning is culture learning and consequently, language teaching is cultural teaching” (p.59) Gaoalso argues that foreign language teachers should consider the place of cultural studies in foreign language classroom and try to enhance students' cultural awareness and improve their communication competence Wang (2008) believes that, “foreign language teaching is foreign culture teaching, and foreign language teachers are foreign culture teachers” (p.4)

Silberstein (2001) believes that grammatical knowledge is not enough to guarantee good and appropriate communication Teaching a language is more than teaching its grammar, phonology, and lexis Teaching cultural norms

in a non-judgmental way is of prime significance Linguistic competence alone is not enough for learners of a language

to be competent in that language (Krasner, 1999)

2.2 Cultural Intelligence

The notion of cultural intelligence has been described as a “new kid on the block”(Gelfand, Imai & Fehr, 2008, p.376).Cultural intelligence is defined as the capability to function effectively in culturally diverse contexts (Ang& Van Dyne, 2008; Earley&Ang 2003); it is “a set of capabilities comprising mental, motivational and behavioral components that focus specifically on resolving cross-cultural problems” (Ng, Van Dyne &Ang, 2012 p 29) Cultural intelligence is regarded as essential for effective business and successful engagement in any environment or social setting (Ang, Van Dyne, Koh, Ng, Templer, Tay, &Chandrasekar, 2007) Therefore, knowledge of one’s cultural intelligence provides insights into one’s capability to cope with multicultural situations It also demonstrates how one engages in cross-cultural interactions as well as how one performs effectively in culturally diverse settings The concept of CQ was examined by (Early, 2002; Early &Ang, 2003) to explore the individuals' differences in effectively communicating across cultures According to Early &Ang (2003), having a high level of cultural intelligence means that individuals are more able to extract and logically interpret information gathered from cross cultural interactions, and are more flexible

ALLS 7(3):13-20, 2016 15

in adjusting to different settings Early and Ang's (2003) conceptualization of CQ is based on Sternberg's (1986) multiple-loci-of-intelligence framework They argued that CQ is comprised of metacognitive, cognitive, motivational, and behavioral dimensions which impact functioning in culturally diverse settings

Meta-cognitive CQ is defined as “an individual’s cultural consciousness and awareness during intercultural interactions Metacognitive CQ focuses on higher-order cognitive processes, and involves capabilities to plan, monitor, and revise mental models of cultural norms” (Koh, Joseph, & Ang, 2009, p 8) Cognitive CQ refers to “a person’s knowledge and understanding of how cultures are similar to and different from each other” (Khodadady & Ghahari, 2011, p.66).Motivational CQ refers to a person's high ability, motivation, and interest to learn and function confidently in culturally diverse situations (Bandura, 2002) Behavioral CQ is a person’s capability to show proper verbal and non-verbal conduct when interacting with people from different cultures

2.3 Listening Ability and Culture

According to Bakhtiarvand and Adinevand (2011), culture is “an inseparable part of the way in which we live our lives and the way we use language, [and] an important requirement for learning spoken English, is the acquisition of cultural knowledge”(p.112).With respect to listening comprehension, which is the focus of the current study, there is an overall consensus among the researchers on the considerable role of prior and cultural knowledge (Muller, 1980; Othman

&Vanathas, 2004;Sadeghi&Zare, 2002) Sadighi and Zare (2002) have explored the effect of background knowledge on listening comprehension The participants in their study were two TOEFL preparation classes allocated to EFL learners The experimental group received some treatment in the form of topic familiarity, and their background knowledge was activated Then a 50-item TOEFL test of listening comprehension was administered to both experimental and control groups A statistical analysis of the results provided some evidence in support of the effect of background knowledge on listening comprehension

Gebhard (2000) proposes that background knowledge relates to one's real world experiences and expectations This knowledge is very important when we consider the language processing problems of students Listening then is not only concerned with identifying the linguistic features of the text but also with matching speech with what the listener already knows about the topic He further adds that in the process of listening, comprehension can only occur when the listener can place what he hears in a context If the listener knows something about the speakers and his intention, comprehension is much easier Familiarity with the topic makes listening easier for the listener as he is able to relate to his own background knowledge

3 Objectives of the Study

This study investigates the relationship between Iranian EFL Learners’ Cultural intelligence (CQ) and their performance on the IELTS Listening Module

4.1 Participants and Settings

The subjects of this study included 60 advanced students (both male and female) who were selected via a standard test (Oxford Quick Placement Test) Their age ranged from 19 to 24 (M= 21.5 and SD= 1.87).They were homogenous in terms of major (they also had listening course during the semester, English education background, and proficiency level (i.e advance).They were all native speakers of Persian

4.2 Instrumentation

The present study used two sets of instruments: 1) An IELTS listening test, and 2) The 20-item four-factor CQs Test (or the CQ Scale) To gather the required information on the subjects' performance on listening, an IELTS Listening test

extracted from IELTS Master class by Harris and May (2008) was used It included four parts Each part consisted of a

number of recorded conversations The test was consisted of 40 questions Each item was assigned a score of one The reliability of IELTS scores, based on Cronbach Alpha was 0.912

The second instrument was the Cultural Intelligence Scale Cultural Intelligence Scale (The CQS) is rated on a point Likert-type scale ranging from 1 (strongly agree) to 5(strongly disagree) It took the students approximately 10 minutes to complete the test The test provided a total score of CQ ranging from 41 to 101 In order to increase the participants' comprehension of the questions and avoid misinterpretation of the statements, the Persian version of the

five-CQ items was employed Using Cronbach Alpha formula, the reliability of the five-CQ test was estimated to be 0.82

4.3 Data Collection Procedure

As mentioned above, in this study 3 questionnaires were used: Oxford Quick Placement Test, IELTS Listening Test, and Cultural Intelligence Sale (2007) The questionnaires were administered in two sessions In the first session a proficiency test (Oxford Quick Placement Test) was administered in order to homogenize participants in terms of their proficiency level (i.e advance level learners).They were instructed to code their answer sheets and use the same code in the second session

Table 1 Descriptive statistics for EFL learners’ IELTS listening test and CQ

5.2 Investigation the First Question

The first question was meant to establish if there is a significant relationship between participants’ CQ and their performance on the IELTS Listening test A Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient was computed to assess the relationship between EFL learners’ cultural intelligence and their performance on IELTS listening test Table 2 shows the results of the analysis

Table 2 Pearson correlation between IELTS Listening Test and CQ

As indicated in Table 2, a significant positive correlation was found between CQ and IELTS Listening test [r =.42, n =

60, sig = 000, p<.05] This correlation coefficient indicates a moderate relationship between CQ and IELTS Listening test Thus the first null hypothesis is rejected and it is confirmed that there is a significant relationship between the learners' CQ and their performance on the IELTS listening test

5.3 Investigation the Second Question

The second research question of the study dealt with the predictive power of CQ on EFL learners' performance on the IELTS Listening Module In order to answer this question, the data was run through a multiple regression in which a stepwise method was applied in forming the regression models In the current study, the listening scores were set as the dependent variable, whereas the four components of CQ (metacognitive CQ, cognitive CQ, motivational CQ, and behavioral CQ) were set as the independent predictor variables Preliminary analyses were conducted to ensure non-violation of the assumptions of normality1, linearity2 or multicollinearity3 (Figure 1 and Figure 2)

ALLS 7(3):13-20, 2016 17

1

Figure 1

Figure 2Table 3 Model Summary of Stepwise Multiple Regression

a Predictors: (Constant), Motivational CQ score

Table 4 ANOVA Results

a Predictors: (Constant) Motivational CQ

b Dependent variable: listening score

Table 3 reveals which variables are important in predicting higher score bands in the IELTS Listening Module As indicated in Table 3, among the subscales of the CQ, motivational CQ is the best predictor of EFL learners’ listening ability Regression analysis showed R squared=.248 and according to Table 4, the results were significant (sig=.043, p<.05) This proves that 24.8% of the variance of the listening achievement (dependent variable) is accounted for by the

1 -The data is normally distributed.

-There is a straight line relationship between the dependent and independent variables.

-There are no predictors in the model which are correlated and provide redundant information about the response.

ALLS 7(3):13-20, 2016 18

independent variable (motivational CQ) in the model as indicated by the R squared (R² =.248,p<.05) In other words,

24.8% of variance of IELTS Listening scores can be explained by motivational CQ scores

Table 5 Regression Coefficientsa and Significance

a Predictors in the Model: (Constant), Motivational CQ score

Table 6 Excluded Variablesb

b Dependent Variable: listening score

As shown in Table 5, one measured variable (factor) was included in the regression model that related to the listening achievement by advance EFL learners (B=.368, t=2.054, sig = 000, p<.05) Also, Table 6 shows the statistics of variables which have been removed in the model (behavioral, sig=.593, p<.05; cognitive CQ, sig=.256, p<.05; metacognitive CQ, sig=.800, p<.05)

6 Conclusion and Discussion

As the findings of this study reveal, EFL learners’ cultural intelligence has a significant relationship with their performance on IELTS Listening Module It means that those EFL learners who have higher CQ are more successful in the IELTS Listening Test and vice versa This finding is in line with findings obtained in studies conducted by (Rafieyan, Golerazeghi & Orang, 2015; Ghonsooly & Shalchy 2013; Fatemi, Najafzade & Sadeghzade, 2015), who found a strong positive relationship between cultural intelligence, pragmatic comprehension, speaking and writing ability, and job satisfaction, respectively The results also confirm findings by Khodadady and Ghahari (2012), indicating that cultural intelligence as measured by CQS is negatively associated with TOEFL and its structure subtest The findings conflict with Azizi, Fatemi, Pishghadam and Ghapanchi (2015), who found no significant relationship between CQ and total cultural attachment

The results also indicated a significant positive relationship between the two components of CQ, namely, metacognitive and motivational CQs, and IELTS Listening Module performance Metacognitive CQ essentially enables one to acquire knowledge and develop strategies to adapt to the new environment; it reflects the mental capacity to acquire and understand cultural knowledge Those with higher metacognitive CQ are aware of others’ cultural preferences before and during interactions (Ng & Early, 2006)

Successful listeners are able to interpret what is going on in the speakers’ head as well as within the message and to make sense of culturally diverse settings and behaviors Their higher level of metacognitive competence enables them

to measure upon their cultural knowledge to make more sense of the different cultural context and handle it more effectively This meta-competence equips them with the properties of awareness, planning, and checking, which are three sub-dimensions of metacognitive CQ Through awareness, they come to realize that cultural differences exist between self and others Finally, they are more likely to check and monitor if their expectations match what has culturally happened or communicated (Koh, Joseph & Ang, 2009) The outcomes in the study, suggest that successful listeners are consciously aware of their own as well as others’ cultural assumptions and values, deliberately plan for multicultural settings, and reflect and adjust their mental models accordingly

Apart from metacognitive competence, motivational CQ was found to have relationship with EFL learners’ performance on IELTS Listening Module Individuals with high motivational CQ show interest, confidence, and drive

to adapt cross-culturally Successful listeners are motivated enough to face challenges, difficulties, and welcome social conflicts and contrasts

The second research question was to find out which types of CQ have more predictive power in predicting the EFL learners’ performance on IELTS Listening Module Based on the findings, motivational CQ was found to be the best predictor of listening ability This finding is in agreement with parallel studies by (Imai, 2007; Ghonsooly &Golparvar, 2012; Peivandi, 2011) who found motivational CQ as the best predictor of writing ability and intercultural effectiveness respectively Motivational CQ influences the achievement of language learners in listening comprehension tasks Motivational competence mirrors the ability of directing energy towards finding out and taking part in multicultural situations (Leung & Ang, 2008) According to Gence and Bada (2005), one of the primary advantages of cultural discussions in language classes, is that they have always had a motivating effect on the language learner and the

Unstandardized Coefficients

Standardized Coefficients

ALLS 7(3):13-20, 2016 19

learning process They offer learners, some assistance with noticing similarities and differences among diverse cultures Having lived most of their lives in mono-cultural and monolingual environments, L2 students around the world are culture-bound individuals who tend to make inappropriate value judgments about their own as well as about others’ culture This can lead them to consider the native speakers of their target language “as very peculiar and even ill-mannered, which in turn, plays a demotivating role in their language learning process” (Gence & Bada, 2005, p.75)

In an increasingly multicultural world, enhancing cultural awareness can lead to better results in the English classroom The findings of this study, which showed a relationship between cultural intelligence and listening comprehension, may benefit teachers, researchers, and policy-makers and encourage them to incorporate lessons to increase the EFL student's cultural intelligence Cultural awareness can aid more effective communication skills in a foreign context as well as real life situations

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Advances in Language and Literary Studies

ISSN: 2203-4714

Vol 7 No 3; June 2016

Australian International Academic Centre, Australia

Indonesian EFL Students’ Perspective on Writing Process:

A Pilot Study

Imelda Hermilinda Abas (Corresponding author)Universiti Utara Malaysia, College of Arts and Sciences, 06010 Sintok, Kedah, Malaysia

E-mail: imelabas@yahoo.comNoor Hashima Abd AzizDepartment of Language Studies, School of Education and Modern Languages, Universiti Utara Malaysia, College of

Arts and Sciences, 06010 Sintok, Kedah, Malaysia

E-mail: noor934@uum.edu.my

Doi:10.7575/aiac.alls.v.7n.3p.21 Received: 08/01/2016 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.7575/aiac.alls.v.7n.3p.21 Accepted: 21/02/2016

Abstract

The study was aimed at understanding the EFL Indonesian students’ perspective on the writing process The pilot study

involved two male Indonesian postgraduate students in Universiti Utara Malaysia The Indonesian students were

selected based on the following criteria: (1) had enough knowledge in English writing, indicated by the completion of

Academic Writing and Research Methodology courses taken in UUM; (2) had written an unpublished thesis during

their undergraduate studies in Indonesia and they are writing their master or doctoral thesis in English; (3) used English

extensively in writing their assignments, and in daily activities Pseudonyms were used to refer to the participants as

Sukarno and Suharto The data were collected through in-depth interviews with the participants The interview sessions

took approximately 15-20 minutes for each participant and were videotaped and audiotaped Semi-structured interview

with 15 questions and probes were used The results showed that the two participants had positive feelings and attitudes

towards writing in English Although they had a hard time in English writing during their undergraduate in Indonesia,

they become fond of writing in English in their postgraduate time due to the exposure to English extensively In

composing, they used brainstorming, drafting, pausing, revising and editing in a recursive manner

Keywords: in-depth interview, pilot study, writing process, English as a Foreign Language (EFL)

1 Introduction

Most English as a foreign language (EFL) students find writing in English to be difficult because they have to use the

correct English grammar and vocabulary, apply the writing skills they have learnt, and incorporate these knowledge

with their previous experience on the topic given when writing In relation to the research conducted, the researcher,

herself, faced the challenge of writing her doctoral thesis in English The researcher has discovered that writing is a

complex process and recursive in nature, whereby a writer shifts from one stage to another and might shift back to the

beginning or the previous part naturally This paper is on the pilot study of a dissertation that the researcher conducted

in order to understand the EFL Indonesian students’ perspective on the writing process

Let us begin with the definition of writing Bereiter and Scardamalia (1987) define writing as “a way for students in all

content areas to make meaning for themselves” (p 5) In addition, Herrington (1985) associates writing with learning to

think and exchanging information in their particular domains Writing is one of the four aspects of language in English

beside listening, speaking and reading It is essential particularly in the 21st century, in the education context to be

successful professionals (Applebee, Langer, Mullis, Latham & Gentile, as cited in Hamman, 2005; Johannesen, 2001)

What makes writing so different from the other skills such as listening, speaking and reading? Speaking and listening

are acquired naturally for the first and second language learners because they are required to communicate using the

target language Thus, speaking may obviously show the students' language acquisition level (Peng, 2001) Contrary to

speaking and listening, which mostly consist of frustration-free activities, writing is less preferred and difficult because

it is complicated and demands higher thinking abilities (Alhosani, 2008)

In the academic setting, students are required to do their writing tasks such as assignments, reports, thesis and

dissertation A growing number of research provide insights into the importance of writing for academic success Bjork

and Raisanen (1997) point out that writing is important because of its useful function as a tool for language

development in all disciplines Moreover, Bruning and Horn (2000) suggest writing as a “critical tool for intellectual

and social development” (p.30)

If writing is so important, then why is it difficult? Factors that are associated with writing problems in second language

or foreign language are different cultural background (Imtiaz, 2003; McCharthy, 1992; Sadik, 2009), different textual

Flourishing Creativity & Literacy

ALLS 7(3):21-27, 2016 22

patterns (McCharthy, 1992) and types of writing (process and product of second language (L2) writing) such as language competence, first language (L1) writing competence, use of cohesive devices, metacognitive knowledge about writing task, writing strategies and writer’s personal characteristics (Angelova, 1999) Some studies on the EFL students in Arab setting (Bacha, 2002; Kharma & Hajjaj, 1997; Rababah, 2003), found that a serious problem in writing hindered the EFL learners’ academic progress They reported that the English language skills in general and writing skill in particular were lacking among the Arab students Moreover, the teachers were faced with the challenge of developing their students’ writing skill because they were not aware of the writing processes, skills and knowledge that are involved in planning, drafting and revising a text

Similarly, most university students in Indonesia find it difficult to express their ideas in English, particularly in academic writing, despite the fact that they have learnt English since elementary school A study conducted by Sadik (2009) on Indonesian university students found that pre-writing, planning, drafting, revising and editing were the stages

of writing that were taught to the students However, she discovered that problems in writing were associated with limited knowledge of writing strategies, problem with grammatical structure, and low interest in writing She also discovered that the students did not realize that writing is time consuming and tedious

In addition, Mistar, Zuhairi and Parlindungan (2014) conducted a study on secondary school students and found that the students lacked in the knowledge of writing The students were found to use self-monitoring strategies, and correct their mistakes by reading, rewriting, noticing mistakes and paid a great deal of attention to linguistic aspects of English, which occurred only at the editing phase Moreover, a study done by Setyono (2014) on the teaching of writing at the high school level, found that the product-based approach of writing instruction was still being practiced in most schools

It was found that the students were not given ample time to write to produce a final product of writing through revising process It can be assumed from these studies (Mistar et.al., 2014, Sadik, 2009, Setyono, 2014), that the lack of knowledge in writing for most of the Indonesian university students can be associated with their previous education background, limited knowledge of writing, and not given enough time to practice writing These findings inspired the researcher to explore the writing process from the EFL Indonesian students’ perspectives

2 The Teaching of Writing

The approaches in English as a second language (ESL) and EFL writing pedagogy have developed from oriented (i.e the controlled composition approach and the current-traditional rhetoric approach) to a process-oriented approach The focus of a product-oriented approach is on the final product of the writing However, since the 1970s, the teaching of writing has shifted its focus from the written product to a concentration on the writer and the writing process (Silva, 1990; Reid, 1993) Writing process is defined as “a series of operations leading to the solution of a problem The process begins when a writer consciously or unconsciously starts a topic and is finished when the written piece is published” (Graves, 1983, p 4)

product-In early 1982, Berlin introduced a developed model of writing that focuses on the process composing elements, that is, paying more attention to writer, reader, authenticity and language in written text This model served as a basis in understanding the progress in second language (L2) writing theory Researchers have adopted the research on the native English speaker’s writing process in their ESL research, focusing on how the writers compose and understand writing

as a process of discovery and self-expression (Zamel, 1976, 1982) For example, a study on the college students’ writing process conducted by Flower and Hayes (1981), discovered that the students’ writing process was recursive rather than linear

Moreover, Silva (1990) asserts that the process approach in L2 writing consists of systematical, persistent and contextual aspects, which include building and applying of knowledge in an encouraging classroom atmosphere for students to complete their writing Thus, the focus in writing L2 instruction is on the L2 writer, L1 audience, L2 text, L2 writing context, and interaction of these components in different ESL context This implies that the teaching of L2 writing should be based on a comprehensive concept of L2 writing contribution to the writer, reader, text, and context (Silva, 1990)

In the process approach classroom, the purpose of instructional activities is to allow the students to express themselves fluently, think and organize their ideas before writing and revising drafts The teachers are encouraged to form collaborative learning such as peer responses and group works, loosen their authority and engage in a less controlling role by allowing the students to select their own topic, and letting them to work at their own pace Moreover, the sense

of audience is also regarded as one of the significant features as the students are encouraged to have their voice in their writing, while simultaneously paying attention to the audience

In the Indonesia context, the approaches of controlled composition, where learning to write in English is mainly through teacher-directed instructional approach with an emphasis on the students’ final writing products, are still practiced at the school and university levels (Ignatius, 1999; Latief, 1990; Sulistyaningsih, 1997) Sadik (2009) argues that “this emphasis should be totally changed to an emphasis on process of writing in the teaching and learning process” (p.127) Generally, the students are taught useful vocabulary, sentence patterns, and how to use conjunctive devices to connect sentences to form a paragraph and connect discourses between paragraphs Then, they apply such linguistic knowledge

to the assigned writing task The knowledge of rhetorical patterns is introduced through modeled essays/compositions

For this pilot study, the researcher employs purposive sampling to select postgraduate students as participants for this study through careful considerations based on the following criteria: (1) they were considered to have enough knowledge in English writing, indicated by the completion of Academic Writing and Research Methodology courses; (2) they had written an unpublished thesis during their undergraduate studies and they are writing their master or doctoral thesis in English as a prerequisite to complete their master or PhD degree; (3) they used English extensively in the class, that is writing their assignments, and in daily activities.

For this pilot study, two male Indonesian, Master and PhD students in UUM, were selected as the participants Pseudonyms were used to refer to the participants as Sukarno and Suharto The purpose of using pseudonym was to make the participants feel comfortable in answering the interview questions The interviews were conducted in English The participants were able to understand all the questions and the interviews were recorded in order to help the researcher in transcribing the interview The responses from the participants helped the researcher to find the themes or categories that might emerge in the actual research and to refine the interview questions where necessary Reasons for conducting the pilot interview were to familiarize the researcher with the interviewing technique and questions, to make sure that the interview questions were clear and understandable, and to create the circumstantial suitability of the situations in getting the participants’ responses (Creswell, 2012)

3.2 Data Collection

The data were collected through in-depth interviews with the two participants The interview session was conducted face-to-face with each participant The nature of the in-depth interview was to understand in details about the participants’ experiences going through the writing process The interview session took approximately 15-20 minutes for each participant and was videotaped and audiotaped Semi-structured interview with 15 questions and probes were used The interview questions can be seen in the Appendix The interview questions were adapted from Alhosani (2008)

4 Findings

4.1 Sukarno

The first interview was conducted with Sukarno who was a Master student at the College of Arts and Sciences, Universiti Utara Malaysia He graduated from a private university in Jakarta in 2011

4.1.1 Feelings and Attitudes towards Writing in English

In responding to the researcher’s question regarding his feelings towards writing in English, Sukarno stated that as a master student, he had to write in English almost every day for his assignments, project paper, and other academic purposes Sukarno claimed that he liked writing in English because he enjoyed constructing the sentences and paragraphs in English, which is an important part of writing He stated that he preferred to write in English than to write

in his mother tongue However, he was not confident writing in English because he thought that he was not a proficient writer yet

4.1.2 Learning Experience in Writing

In replying to questions related to learning experience, Sukarno stated that he attended some writing classes during his undergraduate study in Indonesia However, he was not aware about terms such as writing strategies and writing process, because his teacher did not mention or introduce the terms to the students Sukarno explained that when he was taking the composition class, the teacher taught that writing should consist of introduction, body and conclusion paragraphs He also learnt that in writing a paragraph, a writer should consider the unity of a paragraph, coherence, and how to link each paragraph To generate initial ideas, he used brainstorming He applied these strategies to his writing 4.1.3 Knowledge about the Writing Process

A few interview questions were asked in relation to the knowledge about the writing process category For instance, when the researcher asked questions on the stages that Sukarno used in writing, he replied that he used brainstorming,

ALLS 7(3):21-27, 2016 24

building outline of the writing, writing the introduction, body and conclusion paragraphs, revising, editing, and submitting the paper to the teacher Sukarno further explained that when given a topic to write, he would firstly search for information related to the topic through brainstorm activity, associate or visualize the words with the topic, and only then he would start to write

While composing the essay, and running out of ideas, he explained that he would pause for a while to read his work and

to search for more relevant information to develop his ideas He would also read his work for editing purpose by looking for errors in grammar and word choice

After finishing the first draft, Sukarno would go through another pausing stage aimed at editing and revising Sukarno stated that he would reread the draft thoroughly, word by word, looking for grammar and spelling errors, revising sentences with ambiguity meanings, checking for coherence in ideas, and adding or deleting ideas He considered these stages as important because his ideas should be written clearly so that the reader could understand what he wanted them

to understand from his writing He also admitted that he wrote drafts, revised, and edited his work for more than one time When Sukarno was satisfied with his writing, he would hand-in his work and wait for feedback from the teacher The teacher would correct his writing by giving him feedbacks on the grammar and vocabulary

4.2 Suharto

The second interview was conducted with Suharto who was a PhD student at the College of Business in Universiti Utara Malaysia He graduated from a private university in Jakarta in 2011 As a PhD student he had to write in English for his dissertation He used English in his daily activities

4.2.1 Feelings and Attitudes towards Writing in English

Suharto’s responses to the questions regarding his feelings and attitudes towards writing in English and his feelings towards writing in English were positive Suharto considered English to be important because it was used in his daily activities in UUM and in writing his dissertation Thus, he preferred to write in English rather than his mother tongue However, in the past, he was frustrated with his result in the writing component when he sat for International English Language Testing System (IELTS) He obtained 6.5 writing band score out of 9 Although he had already given his 100% effort, he could not achieve his target score At that time, he thought that writing was very difficult because he did not have enough time to practice English in Indonesia However, to develop his writing skill, he would mark new words with highlighter while reading and then find the meanings by referring to a dictionary As a result, when his writing skill has improved, he started to like writing since he is exposed to English in his daily activities

4.2.2 Learning Experience

Suharto’s responses to the questions regarding his learning experience and knowledge on writing were positive When the researcher asked Suharto about his learning experience in writing in English, he replied that during his undergraduate degree in Indonesia, he was not aware of his writing strategies However, during his master degree in Indonesia, he learnt English intensively as most of the courses were delivered in English language, and all the assignments were written in English Thus, his writing improved He developed his writing through grammar study, for example, the study of collocation and paraphrasing Nevertheless, he admitted that he was not a skillful writer yet In the past, Suharto joined an IELTS preparatory class where the teacher taught him how to write by emphasizing on the maximum number of words, the nature of English words (collocation, paraphrasing), and word choice Most of the activities in the class were related to grammar and strategies on how to develop arguments in writing

4.2.3 Knowledge about the Writing Process

Suharto’s responses to the questions regarding the stages of writing process he used in his composition and when facing problems in writing were positive When the researcher asked about the stages of writing process that Suharto used in his writing, he replied that firstly, for example, writing about a company, he would follow the timeline or the history of the company Next, he would write about it narratively Then, he would reread what he had written to check the flow and to make any necessary changes

When Suharto was given a topic to write, he would brainstorm for keywords and search relevant information on the topic to present his ideas Then, he would start writing immediately Most of the information he gathered from the internet He added that it was important for him to get information on the topic before making his stand

When running out of ideas, Suharto would pause, take a break for a while and discuss his difficulties with his colleagues or friends to get some fresh ideas The pausing stage also occurred with editing and revising purposes The editing and revising stages were done more than once by rereading and checking for errors in grammar, punctuation, and word choice Before handing-in his writing, Suharto would edit it by printing out the written text, read it carefully, word for word, to make sure that the draft was error free The teacher mostly corrected his writing in the grammar part

ALLS 7(3):21-27, 2016 25

However, their teachers did not mention or introduce the terms of writing process to them Their teachers only explained that writing should consist of introduction, body and conclusion paragraphs and that in writing a paragraph, a writer should consider about the unity of a paragraph, coherence, and how to link each paragraph In addition, when the participants were taking master or PhD degree in UUM, they started to like writing in English For them, writing was fun and enjoyable because writing involves grammar, building the words into sentences and into paragraphs Both considered writing in English as important because they wrote their assignments, papers or dissertation in English The two participants used English in their daily activities because they needed to communicate with international students in UUM Thus, they both had the opportunity to practice English, in spoken and written form Therefore, it is important to note that the connection between environment and the opportunity to practice English is important for second language learners This can be linked to the Affective Filter Hypothesis (Krashen, 1994) and Universal Grammar Hypothesis (Chomsky, 1986), where the exposure to the target language and the environment where the language is practiced are essential parts for second language learning

In terms of the participants’ knowledge about the writing process, they used brainstorming, drafting, pausing, revising and editing in a recursive order However, each stage had different purpose For instance, Sukarno used brainstorming

to find information related to the topic and by associating or visualizing the brainstormed words that he found related to the topic The pausing stage aimed at finding more relevant information to develop his ideas and for editing and revising purposes He paused when he ran out of ideas, and read carefully, word by word, what he had written by looking for errors in grammar and searching for the correct words to use, revising sentences with ambiguity meanings, and checking for coherence in ideas Although each participant went through each stage with a different purpose, it could signify how the writing process develops in general This implies that “students revise as they draft, they plan as they edit; and so forth” (Williams, 2003, p 120) Moreover, Williams (2003) suggests that all writers experience these processes to some extent, however, what may work for one writer, might not work for another

Suharto used brainstorming to find some relevant information from the internet and to understand the ideas and the problems The pausing stage occurred with some purposes: (1) to discuss his difficulties in writing with his colleagues

or friends to get more ideas; (2) to edit and revise by rereading and checking for errors in grammar, punctuation, and word choice The result of the pilot study can be associated with Alhosani’s (2008) study where she found that the writing process approach was identified as a useful method for ESL students, regardless of their English proficiency to improve their writing skills The findings of this pilot study can also be linked to Flower and Hayes’s (1981) findings where the writing process (planning, translating, reviewing) that the students used was recursive as they were writing

6 Conclusion

This study explored the writing process from the perception of two male EFL Indonesian students studying in UUM The selection of the participants was based on purposive sampling and some characteristics, such as: (1) they were assumed to be good in writing in English indicated by the fulfillment of academic writing and research methodology courses; (2) had written an unpublished thesis during their undergraduate in Indonesia, and were doing a master or doctoral thesis in English in UUM Pseudonyms were used to refer to the participants as Sukarno and Suharto

The data of this pilot study were collected through in-depth interviews with the two participants The in-depth interview was used to understand in details about the participants’ experience, in this case, the process of applying the writing process In analyzing the data, all the recorded interviews were transcribed The interview sessions took approximately 15-20 minutes for each participant and were videotaped In analyzing the interview transcripts, the researcher classified the interview data into three categories: (1) feelings and attitude towards writing; (2) learning experience in writing; and (3) knowledge about writing process

The results showed that both Sukarno and Suharto had positive feelings and attitudes towards writing in English The learning experiences of both participants were varied During their undergraduate studies, both participants attended some writing classes However, they were not aware of the writing strategies and writing process because their teacher did not mention or introduce the terms to them Regarding the writing process they used in composing, both participants used brainstorming, drafting, pausing, revising and editing in recursive order

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ALLS 7(3):21-27, 2016 27 Appendix

Interview Questions

1 What is your name?

2 How old are you?

3 How often do you write in English? Why?

4 Describe your learning experience writing English composition?

5 What do you think about writing in English?

6 What do you usually do when you are assigned a topic to write in English? Why?

7 What do you usually do when you run out of ideas while composing? Why?

8 What do you usually do after you finish writing a composition or before you hand it in to the

instructor? Why?

9 Did the teacher correct your writing? How?

10 When you have difficulties, do you ask your teacher to help you?

11 What steps/stages do you use when you write?

12 Do you edit and revise your first draft? If yes, how many times, and in what ways

13 How do you feel about writing in English?

14 Do you feel comfortable when you write in English? If yes, why?

15 Do you like the writing activities your teacher practice? If yes, why?

Source: adapted from Alhosani (2008)

Advances in Language and Literary Studies

ISSN: 2203-4714

Vol 7 No 3; June 2016

Australian International Academic Centre, Australia

The Effect of Teachers’ Written Corrective Feedback (WCF)

Types on Intermediate EFL Learners’ Writing Performance

Khadijeh Aghajanloo (Corresponding author)

University of Zanjan, IranE-mail: khadijeh.aghajanloo@gmail.com

Fariba MobiniUniversity of Zanjan, IranRobab KhosraviUniversity of Zanjan, Iran Doi:10.7575/aiac.alls.v.7n.3p.28 Received: 14/01/2016 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.7575/aiac.alls.v.7n.3p.28 Accepted: 24/02/2016

Abstract

Written Corrective Feedback (WCF) is a controversial topic among theorists and researchers in L2 studies Ellis, Sheen,

Murakami, and Takashima (2008) identify two dominant dichotomies in this regard, that is focused vs unfocused WCF

and direct vs indirect WCF This study considered both dichotomies in a matrix format, resulted in the recognition of

four types of operationally defined WCF, and aimed at: (1) investigating the effects of four types of WCF (i.e., focused

direct CF, unfocused direct CF, focused indirect CF, and unfocused indirect CF) on intermediate EFL learners’ writing

performance; (2) finding out the most effective type of WCF for intermediate EFL learners’ writing performance; (3)

determining learners’ attitudes toward the effectiveness of using WCF and the types which they had received After

conducting Nelson English Language Test (Test 300 D), out of 140 male and female Iranian EFL learners, 120 of them

were selected as intermediate learners, aging from 14-18 The subjects were then assigned randomly to four

homogeneous groups (each group including 30 participants) The pre-test and post-test both included a writing test

which assessed learners’ writing performance, and then their scores were analyzed by using analytic marking scale The

results indicated that, learners outperformed in all of the four groups, validating WCF as an effective technique which

can be used in EFL classes A clear implication of the study is that WCF types (specially unfocused direct CF) should

be emphasized as an essential tool for developing writing ability of intermediate EFL learners

Keywords: Written Corrective Feedback (WCF), Focused CF, Unfocused CF, Direct CF, Indirect CF, Writing

Performance, Intermediate EFL Learners

1 Introduction

Writing is usually thought to be the most complicated skill for foreign language learners to acquire and can only be

taught after introductory acquaintance with elements of language (Sadeghi & Mosalli, 2013) Learning writing entails

basic familiarity with higher level sub skills of planning and organizing, as well as lower level sub skills of spelling,

word choice, and mechanics of writing (Richards, 2002) Writing is an outlet for emotions and thoughts, and despite the

fact that writing skill come late on the process of acquisition, it still forms an important component of second/foreign

language learning (Fageeh, 2011, cited in Hosseini, Naseri, Taghizade & Zeinol Abedin, 2013) Many attempts have

been geared toward helping EFL learners improve their writing skill One such attempt is providing written corrective

feedback, and in the recent years many studies have been conducted to investigate the nature of feedback and the role it

might play in L2 teaching and learning (Lyster & Ranta, 1997)

Ellis (2009) suggests various strategies for providing feedback, and analyzes student responses to the various types of

feedback by focusing on linguistic errors Guenette (2007) states that teachers need to investigate various types of

feedback and their effect on student writing and error correction Ellis, Sheen, Murakami, and Takashima (2008)

identify two dominant dichotomies in this regard, that is focused vs unfocused WCF as well as direct vs indirect WCF

This study considered both dichotomies in a matrix format resulted in the recognition of four types of operationally

defined WCF, and tended to investigate the comparative effectiveness of these techniques on promoting EFL learners`

writing performance

The main purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of four types of Written Corrective Feedback (i.e focused

direct CF, unfocused direct CF, focused indirect CF, and unfocused indirect CF) on intermediate EFL learners’ writing

performance, and to find which type of written corrective feedback might result in better gains Moreover, the other aim

of this study was to determine participants’ attitudes regarding the techniques they had received

Flourishing Creativity & Literacy

ALLS 7(3):28-37, 2016 29

2 Literature Review

2.1 Writing Performance

According to Richards and Schmidt (2010), performance is defined as “a person’s actual use of language A difference

is made between a person’s knowledge of a language (competence) and how a person uses this knowledge in producing

and understanding sentences (performance) There is also a somewhat different way of using the term performance In

using language, people often make errors (such as speech errors) The errors they make are described as examples of

performance” (p 428).Writing performance has three main sub sections (i.e., accuracy, fluency, and complexity) Many

researches have been conducted within the framework of writing performance, focusing in particular on studies involving the effects of different strategies (such as task complexity, task types, and task condition) on accuracy, fluency and complexity of L2 written performance

2.2 Written Corrective Feedback (WCF)

Richards and Schmidt (2010) define feedback as “comments or other information that learners receive concerning their success on learning tasks or tests, either from the teacher or other persons” (p 217) Written corrective feedback is defined as teacher’s input to a writer’s composition in the form of information to be used for revision (Keh, 1990) It is also defined as information provided by teachers to help students trouble-shoot their performance (Nicole and Macfarlane, 2006) Corrective feedback has been a concern of various researchers for centuries (e.g., Brookhart, 2008; Ferris & Hedgcock, 2004; Hyland, 2010; Kroll, 2003; Leki, 1991; Reid, 1998)

There is a rapid growth of interest in different areas of research into feedback on writing and the continuing search by teachers for ways to make their feedback practices more effective In the last two decades feedback has become a central issue for writing research “Recently much feedback research has centered on strengthening the links between feedback on writing and SLA theories and has sought to investigate whether feedback has an effect on language proficiency and development, with a focus on the potential role of written corrective feedback (WCF)” (Hyland, 2010,

p 172)

Corrective Feedback (CF) in L2 writing research is a controversial issue and an important factor in learning Feedback

is defined as information provided by teachers to help students trouble-shoot their performance (Nicole and Macfarlane, 2006) CF on L2 learners’ writing can take many different forms According to Ellis, Sheen, Murakami, and Takashima (2008), there are two main categories of written corrective feedback; that is focused vs unfocused CF and direct vs indirect CF

2.2.1 Focused vs unfocused CF

As Van Beuningen (2010) states “the focused-unfocused dichotomy refers to the comprehensiveness of correction methodologies The unfocused (or comprehensive) approach involves correction of all errors in a learner’s text, irrespective of their error category Focused (or selective) CF, on the other hand, targets a number of specific linguistic feature(s) only (e.g errors in the use of English articles) Errors outside the focus domain are left uncorrected”(p 11).Different predictions have been made with respect to the relative effectiveness of focused and unfocused CF Ellis et al (2008) claimed that there are theoretical reasons for expecting the focused approach to be more beneficial to accuracy development than unfocused CF They stated that learners are more likely to notice and understand corrections when they target a specific set of error types The idea that noticing and understanding are essential for acquisition (e.g Ellis, 2005; Schmidt, 1994), led Ellis et al.(2008) to conclude that focused CF has greater potential to impact accuracy development

Sheen (2007) and Bitchener (2008) argued that unfocused CF may not be the most effective correction method because L2 learners have a limited processing capacity They claimed that asking learners to deal with CF which targets a broad range of linguistic features at the same time might produce a cognitive overload, and prohibit feedback processing.There are also reasons to question the hypothesized superiority of a focused CF approach It could be argued that focused CF is a form of explicit grammar instruction than a focus-on-form intervention (e.g., Bruton, 2009) This might make it more difficult for learners to transfer what is learned from the feedback to new writing situations Furthermore, Ferris and Storch (2010) noted that, from a practical perspective, only targeting specific error types might not be enough; a teacher’s purpose in correcting his pupils’ written work is improving accuracy in general, not just the use of one grammatical feature Moreover, observing that some of their errors have been corrected while others have not might

be confusing for students

2.2.2 Direct vs indirect CF

The main factor distinguishing between direct and indirect CF is the learner’s participation in the correction process

“Whereas direct CF consists of an indication of the error and the corresponding correct linguistic form (Lalande, 1982; Robb et al., 1986; Semke, 1984; Van Beuningen et al, 2008; 2012), indirect CF only indicates that an error has been made” (Van Beuningen, 2010, p.12) Indirect corrective feedback is when the teacher underlines, circles or highlights errors on students’ original texts, indicating the location of these errors without correcting them, students are asked to study their errors and correct them (Bitchener & Knoch, 2010b; Van Beuningen, 2008)

“Various hypotheses considering the effectiveness of direct and indirect CF have been put forward, some in favor of direct error correction, others supporting the indirect approach” (Van Beuningen, 2010, p 12)

ALLS 7(3):28-37, 2016 30

On the one hand, it has been suggested that learners will benefit more from indirect CF because they have to engage in a more profound form of language processing when they are self-editing their writing (e.g., Ferris, 1995; Lalande, 1982).In this view, the value of the indirect approach lies in the fact that “it requires pupils to engage in guided learning and problem solving and, as a result, promotes the type of reflection that is more likely to foster long-term acquisition” (Bitchener & Knoch, 2008, p 415)

Advocates of direct CF (e.g., Chandler, 2003), on the other hand, have claimed that the indirect approach might fail because indirect CF provides learners with insufficient information to resolve complex errors (e.g., syntactic errors) Chandler (2003) argued that, while direct CF enables learners to instantly internalize the correct form as provided by their teacher, learners whose errors are corrected indirectly do not know if their own hypothesized corrections are indeed accurate This delay in access to the target form might level out the potential advantage of the additional cognitive effort associated with indirect CF Additionally, Bitchener and Knoch (2010) suggested that only direct CF offers learners the kind of explicit information that is needed for testing hypotheses about the target language

It has also been suggested that the relative effectiveness of direct and indirect CF methodologies might be determined

by intervening factors, such as a learner’s level of L2 proficiency or meta-linguistic awareness (e.g., Ferris, 2004; Hyland & Hyland, 2006), the type of error that is targeted (e.g., Ferris, 1999; 2002), the goal a teacher tries to achieve

by providing CF (Ferris, 2010), or the type of knowledge (i.e., already partially acquired knowledge vs new knowledge) a teacher wants to transfer (Ellis et al., 2008)

Considering all these controversies and taking into account the importance of feedback studies, the present study attempts to investigate the effects of providing four types of written corrective feedback (WCF) on EFL learners’ writing performance

2.3 The Present Study

One of the aims of this study was to investigate the effects of four types of WCF (i.e., focused direct CF, unfocused direct CF, focused indirect CF, and unfocused indirect CF) on intermediate EFL learners’ writing performance Also, the other aim of this study was to find which type of written corrective feedback might result in better gains and seeking learners’ attitudes regarding the effectiveness of using WCF and the types which they had received In this study the following questions are addressed:

1 Is there any significant difference across the four types of WCF (i.e focused direct CF, unfocused direct CF, focused indirect CF, and unfocused indirect CF) as far as the results are concerned?

2 Which type of WCF has been the most effective technique?

3 Do learners have different attitudes regarding the effectiveness of using WCF and the types which they have received?

3 Method

3.1 Participants

The participants of this study were 140 male and female intermediate EFL learners studying English (i.e., Top Notch 3A) at private language institutes in Iran In order to ensure that subjects were at the same proficiency level, Nelson English Language Test (Test 300 D) was administered prior to the treatment Out of 140 participants who took the test,

120 (i.e., 51 male, 69 female) of them whose scores were above 30 were selected to serve as the subjects of the study and learners with other levels of proficiency were disregarded from the study without being aware themselves Ages ranged from fourteens to eighteens, but the majority was fifteen years old and the average age of the participants was 16.7 The subjects were then assigned randomly to four homogeneous groups (each group including 30 participants)

3.2 Instruments

3.2.1 Nelson Proficiency Test

Nelson English Language Test (i.e., Test 300 D) was used to homogenize the proficiency level of learners and to ensure the homogeneity of the participants in four groups in terms of their English language knowledge Nelson English Language Test is “a battery of tests consisting of separate items for ten levels of language proficiency Each test consists of 50 items The tests are designed for a 30 (60%) pass- mark” (Khazaei, 2011, p.203)

3.2.2 Writing Tests

A pre-test in writing was administered to reveal the participants’ level of writing prior to the treatment At the end of the term (i.e., 18 subsequent sessions), each subject was given a post-test similar to the pre-test to find out whether the treatments had any significant effect on the improvement of learners’ writing performance The topics of the pre-test and post-test were selected from TOEFL writing topics These topics were similar in format, instruction, length, level of difficulty, and allotted time In order to score these tests, the analytic marking scale was used

Due to the nature of the pilot study which is to find out any probable ambiguities or problems of the research, a pilot study was conducted in order to estimate how long it would take to administer the writing tests and also to assess the feasibility of each test; that is, weather their instructions and statements were clear enough for Iranian intermediate EFL learners The pilot study’s sample comprised a small group of subjects with characteristics similar to the subjects in the main study The sample consisted of 20 subject including11girls and 9 boys from two classes

ALLS 7(3):28-37, 2016 31

It should have taken about 40 minutes for subjects to complete the proficiency test, and 30 minutes to finish each writing test (i.e., pre- and post-test); however most of the subjects spent about 120 minutes on taking the tests (i.e., the proficiency test and the writing tests) As for the feasibility of the tests, most participants were able to understand the topics of the writing well, which revealed that the instructions were explicit and comprehensive for the subjects

All of the learners’ writings (i.e., pre- and post-test) were scored by two raters for assessing inter-rater reliability In order to estimate inter-rater reliability, Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient was used In this study, the

calculated r was 81 which indicated that there was a large positive correlation between two raters

3.2.3 Attitude Questionnaire

A questionnaire, seeking learners’ attitudes concerning the effectiveness of using WCF and the types which they had received during the treatment, was adapted from Mubarak (2013) in order to illuminate learners’ possible differential attitudes toward WCF types It had fifteen items and it was based on Five Point Likert Scale, which provided five responses to each statement This questionnaire was divided into four subcategories which were General Attitude to Feedback (3 items), Preference of and Attitude to Feedback Type (4 items), Post-Feedback Behavior (5 items), and Self-Rating of Improvement (3 items) Learners’ responses to the items were statistically analyzed and subsequently compared to provide a comprehensive picture of their attitudes toward WCF types

There was a pilot study in order to illuminate the validity and reliability of the questionnaire Therefore, it was piloted first by five TEFL experts, and then administered to 20 subjects with similar background and level of English proficiency After these procedures, some of the items were rephrased and the order of some statements was altered The reliability of the piloted questionnaire was calculated by Cronbach’s alpha Pallant (2001) states that, “the

Cronbach alpha coefficient of a scale should be above 0.7” (p.85) The result of calculation was a = 72 which

confirmed that the questionnaire was reliable and could be used for collecting the data about learners’ attitudes toward WCF types

3.3 Data Collection Procedure

In order to complete this study, three stages were followed:

Stage One:

In order to select a homogenized sample in terms of language proficiency, 140 EFL learners from fourteen classes of 'Top Notch 3A' from different English Language institutes (i.e., four institutes) in Iran were administered a proficiency test As mentioned earlier, Nelson English Language Test (Test 300 D) consists of 50 multiple-choice items Results of this test provided each of the participants with a score out of 50 which allowed the researcher to see exactly how they performed Out of the 140 participants who took the test, 120 of them whose scores were above 30 were selected to serve as the subjects of the study and learners with other levels of proficiency were disregarded from the study without being aware themselves The subjects were then assigned randomly to four homogeneous groups (each group including

scale with specific paragraph evaluation criteria was adopted from Jacobs et al’s (1981), (cited in Testing for Language

Teachers by Hughes, 2003) It consists of six components: content, organization, vocabulary, cohesion, grammar, and

form Each component was analyzed and graded by its respective five-degree scale (from 1 as minimum to 5 as

maximum), so that the total score of each test ranges from 1 as the minimum to 30 as the maximum

Subjects in four experimental groups were asked to write different paragraphs (i.e., five writings) corresponding to the units that they had already covered in the class during the term The topics of all the writing assignments were the same for all the four groups and determined by each unit of the book These writings were corrected based on the type of the treatments they had received, i.e., focused direct CF, unfocused direct CF, focused indirect CF, and unfocused indirect CF

Stage Three:

At the end of the term (i.e., 18 subsequent sessions), each subject was given a post-test similar to the pre-test to find out whether the treatments had any significant effect on the improvement of learners’ writing performance The topic of the post-test was also selected from TOEFL writing topics and as stated above there was a pilot study for the post-test topic These topics were similar in format, instruction, length, level of difficulty, and allotted time Once again to score the post-test, the analytic marking scale was used

An attitude questionnaire was attached to the post-test in order to seek learners’ attitudes concerning the effectiveness of using WCF and the types which they had received during the treatment This questionnaire had fifteen items and it was based on Five Point Likert Scale and the responses were statistically analyzed to provide a comprehensive picture of learners’ attitudes toward WCF types

ALLS 7(3):28-37, 2016 32

3.4 Data Analysis

SPSS version 16 was used to analyze the collected data The scores obtained from participants’ writing pre- and test were compared to reveal if there were any significant differences in writing performance of four experimental groups, and to determine which type of WCF resulted in better gains Differences between the mean scores of the pre- and post-test of each four groups were calculated through paired t-test The scores of pre- and post-test of the four groups were compared by one-way ANOVA to find out whether the treatments had any significant effect on learners’ writing performance

post-The differences between the gains of the four experimental groups were compared by multiple comparisons to find out which type of WCF might be more efficient for intermediate EFL learners Finally, learners’ responses to attitude test were collected and statistically analyzed to illuminate learners’ attitudes concerning the effectiveness of WCF and the types which they had received during the treatment All of these statistical analyses were used to test this study’s three hypotheses:

H01: There is no significant difference across the four techniques concerning their effect on the learners’ writing performance

H02: Focused direct CF contributes more to learners’ writing development

H03: There is no significant difference across learners’ attitudes regarding WCF types

4 Results

About 140 EFL learners from fourteen classes of 'Top Notch 3A' were administered a proficiency test The range of the learners in these fourteen classes was different, from 5 learners in some classes up to 16 learners in other classes Out of the 140 participants who took the test, 120 of them whose scores were above 30 were selected to serve as the subjects of the study and learners with other levels of proficiency were disregarded from the study without being aware themselves Table 1 Descriptive statistics: Nelson proficiency test (300D)

34.2334.8734.9334.10

1.99 0.36 31 371.85 0.34 32 381.53 0.28 32 372.04 0.37 31 38

Table 1 presents the results of Nelson Proficiency test with regard to the selected groups Group 1 (i.e., focused direct CF) had thirty subjects and their mean score was 34.23 out of 50 Similarly, Group 2 (i.e., unfocused direct CF) had thirty subjects and their mean score was 34.86 out of 50 Group 3 (i.e., focused indirect CF) had thirty subjects and their mean score was 34.93 out of 50 And finally, Group 4 (i.e., unfocused indirect CF) had thirty subjects and their mean score was 34.1 out of 50

Table 2 Descriptive statistics: One-way ANOVA in the Nelson proficiency test (300D)

3 116 119

5.488 1.58 0.1973.477

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Table 2 presents the results of one-way ANOVA which was run between the mean scores of the four groups With an alpha level decided at p<.05 level of significance, there were not any significant differences between the four groups, which along with the randomization showed that the four groups were homogeneous

4.1 Investigation of Research Question 1

Regarding the first research question (Is there any significant difference across the four types of WCF (i.e., focused direct CF, unfocused direct CF, focused indirect CF, and unfocused indirect CF) as far as the results are concerned?), an attempt was made to make a comparison between the results obtained from the pre- test and the post-test of four groups

to see whether there are any significant differences in their writing performance Furthermore, the mean scores of tests in four groups were compared to reveal that if there were any significant differences in their writing performance Table 3 Descriptive statistics: One-way ANOVA in the post-test

3 116 119

34.83 4.723 0.0047.374

As Table 3 shows, with an alpha level decided at p<.05 level of significance, the differences between groups were

significant Therefore, the subjects in the four groups differed in their performance in the postest Paired samples tests were used to investigate any statistically significant differences in results in the pre-test compared with post-test for each four group In this regard, Table 4 reports the results of paired sample t-test for four groups

Table 4 Paired T-Test Result for four Groups (Differences between Pre-and Post-test)

Deviation

T- value

Sig.(2-tailed)Group 1

Group 2

Group 3

Group 4

PrePost

PrePost

PrePost

PrePost

3030

3030

3030

3030

15.2719.37

15.5020.53

15.1717.90

15.1319.30

2.452.61

2.533.08

2.452.58

2.432.56

4.2 Investigation of Research Question 2

Regarding the second research question (Which type of WCF has been the most effective technique?), based on the statistical analysis, and also with a close look at Figure1, it can be claimed that unfocused direct corrective feedback (i.e., providing the correct form for all linguistic errors by crossing out the errors and writing the correct forms above them) was the most effective technique (among the other three types) for intermediate EFL learners’ writing performance Therefore the second null hypothesis (Focused direct CF contributes more to learners’ writing development.) was rejected

ALLS 7(3):28-37, 2016 34

Figure 1 Differences of the Mean scores in the Pre-and Post-test

4.3 Investigation of Research Question 3

Regarding the third research question (Do learners have different attitudes regarding the effectiveness of using WCF and the types which they have received?); Figure 2 illustrates learners’ preference of and attitude concerning the WCF types which they had received

Figure 2 Learners’ Preference of and Attitude to Feedback Type (4-7)Figure2 reveals that the majority of learners (69%) prefer unfocused direct corrective feedback as the most useful technique (i.e., they prefer their teachers correct all their writing errors on the script) Interestingly, 76% of the learners disagree with focused indirect corrective feedback (i.e., they don’t prefer their teachers only indicate the grammatical errors by underlining them without any correction) Therefore, the third null hypothesis (There is no significant difference across learners’ attitudes regarding WCF types.) was rejected

5 Discussion and Conclusion

5.1 Addressing the First Research Question

The result of the first question revealed that there were significant differences between the mean scores of the four groups in writing performance (i.e., all of the four groups performed better in the post-test compared to the pre-test) Hence, results showed that all of the four types of written corrective feedback (i.e., focused direct CF, unfocused direct

CF, focused indirect CF, and unfocused indirect CF) can positively affect intermediate EFL learners’ writing performance

I prefer that myteacher onlycorrects mygrammaticalerrors

I prefer that myteacherunderlines all

my writingerrors

I prefer that myteacher onlyunderlines mygrammaticalerrors

Strongly Agree and Agree Strongly Disagree and Disagree

0 5 10 15 20 25

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