VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES TRẦN THỊ THU THỦY EFFECTS OF DIFFERENT TYPES OF TEACHER WRITTEN CORRECTIVE FEEDBACK ON STUDENTS’ WRITING PERFORMANCE. AN ACTION RESEARCH APPROACH WITH 12TH FORM ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT LUONG VAN TUY GIFTED HIGH SCHOOL Tác động của những hình thức phản hồi chữa lỗi viết của giáo viên đối với việc học viết của học sinh. Nghiên cứu hành động đối với học sinh lớp 12 chuyên Anh tại trường THPT chuyên Lương Văn Tụy, Ninh Bình M. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 Hanoi, 2016 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES TRẦN THỊ THU THỦY EFFECTS OF DIFFERENT TYPES OF TEACHER WRITTEN CORRECTIVE FEEDBACK ON STUDENTS’ WRITING PERFORMANCE.
AN ACTION RESEARCH APPROACH WITH 12TH FORM ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT LUONG VAN TUY GIFTED HIGH SCHOOL Tác động của những hình thức phản hồi chữa lỗi viết của giáo viên đối với việc học viết của học sinh. Nghiên cứu hành động đối với học sinh lớp 12 chuyên Anh tại trường THPT chuyên Lương Văn Tụy, Ninh Bình M. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 Supervisor: Assoc. Lê Văn Canh Hanoi, 2016 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com DECLARATION I, Trần Thị Thu Thuỷ, hereby certify that the thesis entitled “Effects of different types of teacher written corrective feedback on students' writing performance.
An action research approach with 12th form English major students at Luong Van Tuy Gifted High School.” is submitted for the partial fulfillment of the Degree of Master of Arts at the Faculty of Post-Graduate Studies, University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi. I also declare that this thesis is the result of my own research and efforts and it has not been submitted for any other purposes. Hanoi, 2016 Trần Thị Thu Thuỷ i LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I would like to express my heart-felt thank and my sincere gratitude to my supervisor Assoc. Le Van Canh for his enlightening guidance, precious suggestions and invaluable encouragement during my fulfilment of this minor thesis.
My sincere thanks go to all the lecturers and the staff of the Faculty of Post Graduate Studies at University of Languages and International Studies for their valuable lectures on which my minor thesis was laid the foundation. I truly wish to thank all the 12th form English major students at Luong Van Tuy Gifted High School who have actively participated in the research. I am deeply grateful to my family for their great support and to many of my friends for their notable assistance. ii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ABSTRACT This action research is conducted in an attempt to investigate the effects of three different types of written corrective feedback on students’ writing performance at Luong Van Tuy Gifted High Schools in Ninh Binh Province.
The study also proposes some recommendations of the use of teacher written corrective feedback in writing classes. To achieve the aims of the study, thirty five 12 th form English major students were chosen to participate in an action research. After a preliminary investigation was carried out, a writing instruction course was designed, and different types of teacher written corrective feedback were applied. The data were collected through the analysis of students’ writing and students’ free narratives to measure the students’ progress in their writing performance.
The results of this research showed that teacher corrective feedback helped reduce students’ linguistic errors over time. While positive revision effects were found for all three types of corrective feedback, only indirect feedback proved to have significant long-term effect. The study also found that the students had positive attitudes towards the teacher’s application of corrective feedback. Although there was a mismatch between students’ preferences and beliefs towards each corrective feedback type and its effectiveness, they appreciated the good effects of teacher’s corrective feedback on their learning accuracy and their attitudes towards writing.
The study is of great use to the writing teachers who have an intention to use teacher corrective feedback in writing classes. iii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS. iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS.
vi LIST OF TABLES .vii LIST OF FIGURES. viii PART A: INTRODUCTION 1. Aims of the study. Scope of the study.
Method of the study. Significance of the study. Structure of the study. 3 PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.
Definition of corrective feedback……………………………………………. Forms of feedback……………………………………………………………. Types of corrective feedback to students’ writing……………………………6 1. Teachers' written corrective feedback strategies…………………………….
Roles of teacher written corrective feedback…………………………………14 1. Arguments for the role of teacher written corrective feedback……………. Arguments against the role of teacher written corrective feedback…………16 1. Factors affecting the effectiveness of written corrective feedback……………17 1.
Nature of errors……………………………………………………………. Contextual variables…………………………………………………………21 iv LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 2. Selection of participants and Data collection instruments…………………. The research procedures ……………………………………………….
Data collection instruments…………………………………………….32 CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND REFLECTION 3. Effects of three common types of feedback on students’ writing performance. Effects of three common types of feedback on students’ revised essays……33 3. The effects of three common types of feedback on students’ new pieces of writing………………………………………………………….
Discussion of results……………………………. Students’ attitudes towards different types of CF and their effectiveness……. Students’ attitudes towards teacher corrective feedback in general…………45 3. Students’ preference for each type of teacher corrective feedback………….
Students’ expectations for better use of teacher’s corrective feedback…. Summary of the findings…………………………………………………. Limitations of the study…………………………………………. Plans for the next cycle ……………………………….I v LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS CLT : Communicative Language Teaching CF : Corrective Feedback ESL : English as a Second Language L2 : Second or Foreign Language No : Number vi LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com LIST OF TABLES Table 1.1: Ellis’ typology of feedback types (2009 p.1: Timetable of the action implementation…………………………….1: Effects of three common types of corrective feedback on students’ revised essays…………………………………………………………………….2: Taxonomy of errors and their frequency in Stage 1……………………36 Table 3.3: Taxonomy of errors and their frequency in Stage 2………………….4: Taxonomy of errors and their frequency in Stage 3……………………39 vii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com LIST OF FIGURES Figure 2.1: Steps in the action research cycle…………………………………… .1: Students’ attitudes towards the use of teacher written corrective feedback.
46 viii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com PART A: INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) has been widely used in Vietnam. This approach advocates the teaching of four main skills: reading, listening, speaking and writing for communicative purposes. Writing skill is often considered the most difficult and least preferable skill for the students; therefore, it is desirable for writing teachers to find the most suitable strategies to help their students to write well.
In my own teaching experience, I have found out that most students at Luong Van Tuy Gifted High Schools in Ninh Binh have similar problems with their writing. These problems are (1) they make a lot of errors in their writing, and (2) they have negative attitudes towards learning writing. Thus, how to improve students’ writing as well as to change their attitudes towards writing activities has greatly attracted my attention. A review of literature reveals that the effect of teacher written corrective feedback on students’ writing remains to be inconclusive.
Despite this, numerous studies on the use of corrective feedback in writing classes have shown that written corrective feedback can be applied in writing classes to improve students’ writing accuracy (Liu, 2008; Kaweera, 2008; Ferris, 2000; Ferris et al. Feedback is part and parcel of language pedagogy. Teachers’ feedback is also a form of evaluation on the students’ knowledge and on their own teaching. Teacher’s good feedback strategies may give students stimulation for revision and motivation to maintain their interest in writing.
For all the aforementioned reasons, I wish to conduct a study entitled “Effects of different types of teacher written corrective feedback on students' writing performance. An action research approach with 12th form English major students at Luong Van Tuy Gifted High School. Aims of the study 1 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com This current study aims at (1) examining the effects of different types of teacher written corrective feedback on the writing performance of 12th form English major students at Luong Van Tuy Gifted High School, Ninh Binh; (2) investigating the students’ attitudes towards the use of teacher written corrective feedback and proposing some recommendations of the use of teacher written corrective feedback in writing classes. In short, the research paper aims to address the following questions: How do three common types of teacher written corrective feedback (namely direct, indirect, metalinguistic) influence students’ writings as reflected in their revised essays and new essays? How are students’ preferences to the feedback types related to their writing improvement? 3.
Scope of the study In fact, teacher corrective feedback can be given in both oral and written forms. However, within the framework of a graduation paper, the study only focuses on the teacher written corrective feedback. In addition, due to the limited scope of this study, the participants selected are not all gifted students at Luong Van Tuy Gifted High School, but only students from the class that I directly teach. Method of the study Given that this study was implemented with the hope to improve the students’ English writing skills, I decided to adopt the action research approach because this type of research is aimed at improving a situation.
After a preliminary investigation was carried out, a writing instruction course was designed, and different types of teacher written corrective feedback were applied. The data were collected by the analysis of students’ writing and students’ free narratives. Students’ writings were collected and analyzed before, during and after treatment period (i. the delivery of feedback) to 2 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com measure the students’ progress in their writing performance.
In addition, students’ free narratives were collected and analyzed at the end of the research to find out their attitudes towards each feedback type and its effects. Significance of the study The findings of this study can inform classroom teachers of how to provide feedback on their students’ writings, thereby raising the quality of students’ writings. Structure of the Study The study consists of 3 main parts: Part A: Introduction. This part deals with the rationale, aims, scope, research questions, research methods, significance and structure of the study.
This part has three chapters: Chapter 1: Literature Review presents various concepts relevant to the research topic such as CF and its roles in language teaching and learning, previous studies on different types of written feedback strategies and their effects on students writing performance. Chapter 2: Research Methodology describes the methods utilized in the study, presents the situation of teaching and learning English at Luong Van Tuy Gifted High School and general information about the study subjects. It also focuses on the data collection instruments and procedures. Chapter 3: Research Findings and Discussion gives a detailed presentation and analysis of the data from the students’ writings and free narratives.
This chapter also consists of some discussions and interpretations of the findings of the study and provides some recommendations for effective written correction in writing lessons. Part C: Conclusion This part summarizes the main issues mentioned in the research, points out some limitations of the study and provides some plans for the next cycle. 3 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1. Definition of corrective feedback Responding to the student writing, including giving feedback is one of the most controversial topics in second language instruction and theory.