The Efficacy of Corrective Feedback on L2 Writings of EFL Students

Abstract

Errors have been perceived as problems within the process of teaching and learning a language. However, especially in writing, learners are able to benefit from their errors with the help of corrective feedback. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of explicit corrective feedback in Turkish EFL learners’ writing. The participants of the study were 43 intermediate level Turkish EFL students at a private university in Turkey. There were one experimental, 21 students, and one control group, 22 students. As the data collection both groups were administered a pre-test, a post-test and a delayed post-test as a paper and pencil tests. The experimental group received explicit corrective feedback with extended comments on their errors, and the control group received no feedback. Their errors were only underlined without providing correction. The number of errors that each group made in the writings was compared to each other. In order to ensure the reliability and validity, the participants were administered a 5 Likert scale questionnaire after the writing sessions. The results revealed that the experimental group who received explicit corrective feedback made fewer errors than the control group who did not receive feedback on their L2 writings. Besides that, the experimental group made fewer mistakes in their tests compared to the previous ones. Thus, the findings of the questionnaire revealed that students had a positive view about corrective feedback their L2 writings especially if it has extended comments.