Direct and Indirect Written Corrective Feedback: Lecturers’ Perspectives

Authors

Mohammed Luqman Shahab, Koya UniversityFollow
Karwan Mustafa Saeed Dr., Koya UniversityFollow

Abstract

This study focuses on addressing the influence that written corrective feedback (WCF) has on English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners. Therefore, this research endeavored to give more clarity on the challenges ahead of EFL lecturers in providing WCF and explored the types of WCF (direct/indirect), as well as the lecturers’ opinions on the effectiveness of each type. For this reason, a qualitative inquiry was used to analyze EFL lecturers’ experiences with providing direct/indirect WCF. To this end, 7 Kurdish EFL lecturers from a public university in Kurdistan Region in Iraq (KRI) voluntarily participated in a semi-structured interview session to answer several open-ended questions. The gathered data was audio-recorded and analyzed through utilizing the Braun and Clarke’s (2006) thematic analysis. The findings highlighted various challenges that Kurdish EFL lecturers face including time constraints, students’ lack of comprehension, different learning styles, paper space limitations, difficulty in balancing quality and quantity, and cultural differences. We also found that students preferred direct feedback due to its simplicity and ease of understanding. However, preference for neither type of feedback was also considered by some lecturers. Importantly, the results of the study revealed that offering excessive feedback may decrease the student’s confidence and ability. Limitations include the need for Kurdish undergraduates’ perspectives and larger quantitative studies to further assess the effectiveness of WCF.

Keywords

written corrective feedback (WCF), direct/indirect WCF, English as a foreign language (EFL), EFL learners, EFL lecturers, qualitative study

Author Bio(s)

Mohammed Luqman Shahab is currently a master's student in Applied Linguistics at Koya University. He completed his bachelor’s degree in English language from Koya University in 2022. His research area interests include evaluation and feedback, academic writing, English language teaching (ELT), English as a second language (ESL), English as a foreign language (EFL) and social sciences. Please direct correspondence to mhamad.00534099@gmail.com

Karwan Mustafa Saeed earned his B.A. degree in Translation from Koya University in Kurdistan Region in 2008, his master's degree in Applied Linguistics from Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) in Malaysia in 2013, and his Ph.D. in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) from Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) in Malaysia in 2018. He is currently a lecturer at the Faculty of Education at Koya University and a research associate for the collaborative research project Between Koya University in Kurdistan Region and Ulster University, in Northern Ireland, UK. He is also the Editor-in-Chief of TESOL Today published by EngiScience Publisher. His professional interest is in the realm of TESOL Education, teacher professional development, English language teaching, speaking proficiency, language testing, education, education privatization, and multidisciplinary research methods in the line of social sciences. His works have appeared in several prestigious international peer-reviewed journals. Please direct correspondence to karwan.saeed@koyauniversity.org

Acknowledgements

We would like to extend our thanks and appreciation to the participants for joining the study and providing valuable insights during the data collection stage. Mohammed Luqman Shahab

Publication Date

11-24-2024

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.

DOI

10.46743/2160-3715/2024.7147

Recommended APA Citation

Shahab, M. L., & Saeed, K. M. (2024). Direct and indirect written corrective feedback: Lecturers’ perspectives. The Qualitative Report, 29(10), 2582-2603. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2024.7147

ORCID ID

https://orcid.org/0009-0005-8211-4267

ResearcherID

KBB-6037-2024