Teachers corrective feedback on the 11th form students writing at ngo gia tu high school, bac ninh

In an effort to investigate the reality of teachers’ corrective feedback on the 11th form student writing and students’ opinions on what they receive, the research was carried out with p

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES

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THESIS SUMMARY

WRITING AT NGO GIA TU HIGH SCHOOL, BAC NINH

(Nghiªn cøu thùc tr¹ng viÖc ph¶n håi ch÷a lçi cña gi¸o viªn trªn bµi viÕt cña häc sinh líp 11 tr-êng THPT Ng« Gia Tù,

B¾c Ninh)

MA Minor Thesis Field : English Teaching Methodology Code : 601410

Supervisor : NguyÔn Thuþ Ph-¬ng Lan, MA

Hanoi, 2011

Although teachers’ response to student writing plays an important role in teaching writing, it

is usually neglected by teachers especially at high school level In an effort to investigate the reality of teachers’ corrective feedback on the 11th form student writing and students’ opinions

on what they receive, the research was carried out with participation of 90 grade 11 students and 10 teachers at Ngo Gia Tu high school in Bac Ninh.This is a survey research with three main instruments The first one is the survey questionnaire for teachers and students which was employed to collect information about how teachers gave feedback on the student writing and students’ opinions on what they received The other two were the direct interview with two teachers and the document analysis of the teacher corrective feedback on students’ writing papers in practice This helped the researcher to get further information to justify the results of the survey questionnaire The findings of the study revealed that there existed a lot

of problems concerning teachers’ responding methods, their feedback focus, their frequent types and forms as well as their help for students’ process of teachers’ feedback The results also showed the mismatch between what the teachers often give and what the students would like to get Furthermore, the study recommends several important directions with the hope to

be able to improve the teacher’s feedback, to help the students process the feedback more effectively and thus to create a good cooperative working environment for teachers and students to teach and to learn writing more successfully

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

ABSTRACT

TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS……… VI PART ONE : INTRODUCTION………1

I Rationale……… 1

II Aims of the study………2

III Research questions……….2

IV Method of the study……… 2

V Scope of the study……… 3

VI Significance of the study 3

VII Design of the study 3

PART TWO : DEVELOPMENT………4

CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW 4

1.1 Theoretical backgrounds to the teaching writing 4

1.1.1 Definitions of writing 4

1.1.2 Approaches to teaching writing 5

1.1.2.1 The text-based approach 5 1.1.2.2 The genre-based approach 6 1.1.2.3 The process approach 6 1.2 Theoretical backgrounds to teachers’ feedback 7

1.2.1 Definitions of feedback 7

1.2.2 The benefits of teachers’ feedback to writing 8

1.2.3 Approaches to feedback giving 9

1.2.3.1 Single-draft approach 9

1.2.3.2 The multiple-draft approach 10

1.2.4 Types of teacher feedback 10

1.2.4.1 Formative feedback versus summative feedback 10

1.2.4.2 Negative feedback versus positive feedback……… 11

1.2.5 Focus of teacher feedback 11

1.2.6 Forms of teacher’s written feedback 12

1.2.7 Issues in the teachers' written feedback 13

1.2.7.1 Traditional “marking” 13 1.2.7.2 Appropriating students’ texts 13 1.2.7.3 Overlooking the students’ varying levels of writing ability 14 1.2.8 Principles of teachers’ written feedback 14

CHAPTER II: METHODOLOGY 16

2.1 The context of the study……….16

2.2.The textbook 16

2.3.Participants 17

2.4 The instruments for data collection 18

2.5.Data collection procedures 19

2.6 Data analysis 20

2.6.1 Data analysis of questionnaire for teachers and direct interview…… 20

2.6.2 Document analysis of the teachers feedback……… 27

2.6.3 Data analysis of questionnaire for students……… 28

CHAPTER III: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 35

3.1 Findings 35

3.2 Discussion……… 36

PART THREE: CONCLUSION 39

I Conclusion 39

II Recommendations 39

III Suggestion for further study 41

REFERENCES 42

LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS

Table 2.1 Teachers’ purposes of giving feedback 21

Chart 2.1 Times of teacher feedback on each assignment 22

Table 2.2 Frequency of teacher feedback types……… 22

Table 2.3 Focus of teacher feedback………23

Table 2.4 Forms of teacher feedback……… 24

Chart 2.2 Teachers’ treatment with too many errors in the student writing………25

Chart 2.3 The importance of teacher feedback………29

Chart 2.4 Students’ expectation for frequency of teacher feedback on each assignment……29

Chart 2.5 Students’ reading of teacher feedback……….30

Table 2.5 Students’ expectation for teacher feedback types………30

Table 2.6 Students’ expectation for the focus of teacher feedback……… 31

Table 2.7 Usefulness of teacher feedback forms as perceived by students……….32

Table 2.8 Students’ expectation for teachers’ treatment with too many errors on writing… 33

PART ONE : INTRODUCTION

I Rationale

Language educators have long used the concepts of four basic language skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing Among such four skills, writing is considered as a productive skill

in the written mode Writing helps students learn It helps reinforce the grammatical structures, idioms and vocabulary that students have taught They also have a chance to be adventurous with the language, to go beyond what they have just learnt When writing, they necessarily become very involved in the new language, the effort to express ideas

With all the importance mentioned above, developing second language (L2) writing proficiency is now central to the teaching of English as a foreign language (EFL) However, how to improve students’ writing seems to be very difficult In many cases, students would need intervention from their teachers in terms of not only writing instructions but also their comments on the strengths and weeknesses, which will make students know how to go about improving themselves and

become effective writers As Kroll (2003, p 115) notes, “second language writers often benefit

most and make the most progress when teachers contribute to this goal through a variety of intervention strategies available in classroom settings” Thus, teachers’ feedback can be

considered as a pedagogical tool for the students’ writing improvement Good feedback gives students stimulation for revision and motivation to maintain their interest in writing

The use of teacher feedback in writing classrooms has been generally supported as a potentially valuable aid for its social cognitive, affective and methodological benefits (Merlin, (1986), Radecki and Swales (1988), Hedge (2000), Ferris and Roberts (2001)) They all believe that teacher feedback is very important and has a great influence on the success of teaching and learning writing However, such information is not always clear out Many studies on this area so far have shown that there has been a lack of consensus over how teachers should respond to the students’ writing

Although teachers’ feedback plays such an essential part in teaching writing, most teachers especially high school ones do not pay much attention to this issue At Ngo Gia Tu high school, there have been few attempts to investigate feedback in general and teachers’ corrective feedback

in particular to explore which aspects of writing theory work in practice and which aspects teachers may need to adapt or modify in order to better serve their learners’ needs

The above reasons have urged the author, a teacher of English at Ngo Gia Tu high school, to carry out a study on teachers’ corrective feedback in an attempt to get truthful information on

how teachers at this school give corrective feedback on students’ writing; their problems in responding to students’ writing as well as students’ attitudes towards this feedback It is hoped that the study will help to make recommendations for improving current teachers’ feedback, helping students to process the feedback they receive more effectively and thus to improve their writing skills

II Aims of the study

The study is aimed at :

- Investigating teachers’ corrective feedback given to 11th form students’ writings: their responding method, the feedback focus, feedback types and forms, as well as their problems in responding to the students' writing

- Investigating students’ attitudes towards their teachers’ feedback and their opinions of the feedback they receive

- Proposing some recommendations for teachers to improve their feedback giving practice in order to help students write more effectively

III Research Questions

In order to achieve the above- mentioned purposes, the following research questions were

formulated and needed to be answered :

1 How do the teachers give feedback on the students’ writings ?

2 What are the students’ opinions on the feedback they receive ?

IV Method of the study

The study was carried out using survey research method Survey questionnaires for teachers and students were main instruments for data collection Besides, the interview with the teachers and document analysis of the teacher feedback on students’ writing papers were also used to gather further information so that the research result would be more reliable Data gathered was normally largely qualitative, but it might also be quantitative

V Scope of the study

Feedback in writing is a broad topic including peer feedback, self- editing, teachers’ corrective feedback…However, within the limitation of research time and the length of a minor thesis, the study just focuses on teachers’ corrective feedback on 11th form students’ writings The subjects chosen for this study are 11th form students because they have been taught writing skills for one

year at high school level and they are quite familiar with their teachers’ comment This will make the study more feasible Its results will be more applicable into the real classroom

VI Significance of the study

The present study was carried out with the hope that it would provide a general view of how teachers have actually give feedback to students’ writing and what are the students' attitudes towards the feedback they receive By collecting both teachers’ and students’ ideas about feedback giving practice, some suggestions for improving teachers' feedback may be stated so that students can utilize it more successfully in their revision

VII Design of the study

This study consists of three main parts: introduction, development and conclusion The introduction part briefly presents the rationale of the study, the aims, research questions, methods, scope, the significance and the design of the study The development part consists of three chapters Chapter one provides essential literature review relevant to the study including teaching writing in general and teacher feedback in particular Chapter two deals with the methodology underlying the research, which presents the context of the study, the textbook, the background information about the subjects of the study, the instruments and procedure for data collection as well as the detailed analysis of data collected Chapter three is devoted to presenting the findings

of the study and the discussion about it The thesis ends with the conclusion part which gives a summary of the main issues that have been discussed, some recommendations and suggestions for further research as well

PART TWO : DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW

To provide a theoretical background to the study, this chapter is devoted to the review of concepts that are the most relevant to the thesis’ topic It begins with some theoretical backgrounds to the teaching writing, which includes definitions of writing and approaches to teaching writing Next come some theoretical backgrounds to teachers’ feedback, which consists of definitions of feedback, purposes of giving feedback, approaches to giving feedback, forms, types and focus

1.1 Theoretical backgrounds to the teaching writing

1.1.1 Definitions of writing

What writing is and how it is developed has been a subject of discussion and debate for centuries, which shows a lack of consensus as to what it is and reflects the complexity of the writing process Traditionally, researchers focused mainly on form and the final product, while current research in composition emphasizes the composing process and strategies that are utilized by writers to attain the final product In this part, the researcher quoted some definitions of writing of different authors (Byrne (1991, p.01); (Lannon, 1989, p 9); (Flower & Hayes, 1981); (Renandya

& Richard, 2002, p.1); (Silva, 1990, p.15)) …

1.1.2 Approaches to teaching writing

The teaching of writing which is a vast and complex subject has long been a central element in all-educational systems Also a number of conflicting views of the best ways to teach writing have been presented Raimes (1992) identifies three principle ways of approaching the task; namely; the text-based approach, the genre based-approach and the process approach

1.2 Theoretical backgrounds to teachers’ feedback

1.2.1 Definitions of feedback

Up to the present, responding to the student writing, including giving feedback is one of the most controversial topics in second language instruction and theory There have been few attempts to

define the term “feedback” in teaching writing, researchers seem to have reached a consensus of

the nature and function of feedback Feedback as viewed by Furnborough and Truman (2009) entails the existence of gaps between what has been learned and the target competence of the learners, and the efforts undertaken to bridge these gaps Similarly, Keh (1989, p 294) suggests that feedback is “input from a reader to a writer with the effect of providing information for revision" Additionally, Renandya and Richards (2002) state that: “for students who write only one draft, which is then graded by the teacher, feedback on what is wrong in the composition comes too late" This means that feedback should be provided in the “process of writing” rather than in the “single act of producing a text”

1.2.2 The benefits of teachers’ feedback to writing

Lewis (2002) sums up the five benefits of giving feedback First, Feedback provides information for teachers and students Second, feedback provides students with advice about learning Third, feedback provides students with meaningful and individual language input Fourth, feedback is a form of motivation Finally, feedback can lead students towards autonomy One long-term purpose of feedback is to lead students to the point where they can find their own mistakes In

many cases, teachers indicate the place and type of error without correcting or underlining They require students to find and correct the mistake themselves

1.2.3 Approaches to feedback giving

1.2.3.1.The single-draft approach: This approach is popularly used in traditional classes where

teacher's written feedback seems straightforward

1.2.3.2 The multiple-draft approach: The multiple-draft approach is applied in “process writing"

classes where students may write several drafts which are read and commented on or edited by the teacher Then students are required to re-write, using the feedback offered by teacher

1.2.4 Types of teacher feedback

Teachers' feedback can be conducted in many ways: dialog journals, written comments on students' draft or student-teacher conferences However, the author of this study addresses some types of teacher's written feedback and how these types influence the student revision

1.2.4.1 Formative feedback versus summative feedback

1.2.4.2 Negative feedback versus positive feedback

1.2.5 Focus of teacher feedback

More evidence of progress and higher quality of the writing as a whole has been observed in groups of students who receive feedback on content only or combination of both content and grammar (Ferris and Hedgcock, 1998) This finding suggests that feedback needs to focus more

on content than on form, or a combination of both

1.2.6 Forms of teacher feedback

According to Ferris (1997), teacher feedback generally operates within four basic syntactic forms: question, statement, imperative, and exclamation, which present different pragmatic aims such as giving or asking for further information, making request for revision, giving positive feedback

It is true that the composition teachers can use these forms to provide feedback to their students However, they should be aware of the potential problems that each form presents In addition, Hendrickson (1976) suggests language teachers use various direct and indirect techniques when providing feedback to students’ writing

1.2.7 Issues in the teachers' written feedback

1.2.7.1 Traditional “marking”

1.2.7.2 Appropriating students’ texts