Written corrective feedback in narratives: Teacher styles and learners' responses

Abstract

The main purpose for conducting this qualitative research with the research design, Case Study of Single Case adapted from (Yin, 2003), was to find out the written corrective feedback style employed by the English teacher in correcting the learners written narratives. The responses of the Grade 7 learners toward their Teacher's WCF styles were also studied. This research involved three main phases - Design and Production, Data Collection, and Analysis. In the Design and Production Stage, the researcher adapted the research instruments specifically the interview guide for the Teacher-participant and the Interview guide for the Learners during the Focus Group Discussion wherein interview schedules were also prepared. The Guideposts in Writing Narrative Text found on the Learners' Material for English 7 was also adapted during the Learners' writing of their narratives. On the other hand, the data collection stage involved the learners' three written outputs corrected by their English teacher and the revised or re-written outputs incorporating the teacher's corrections. These written outputs were in the form of narratives and were divided into three sets. During the drafting of the first written output, learners were tasked to write about their favorite dish. For the second written output, the topic given to the learners was about their most unforgettable experience. As to the third written output, the learners were made to write about what they wanted to become in the future. Since there were 20 purposively chosen learner-participants, 20 written outputs were corrected by the Teacher for each set. Subsequently, the second and third sets also had the same number of written outputs which means that the Teacher corrected a total of 60 written outputs. Document analysis was used as data analysis technique. The data collection stage also involved a one-on-one interview with the teacher and focus group discussion with the learners. The data collection stage lasted for six weeks. In the presentation, analysis, and interpretation of data, discussion of the results was tackled. These are findings of the study: 1. Direct WCF emerged as the Teacher's error correction strategy employed in giving corrections as revealed during the interview with the teacher and as manifested in the learners' written narratives. 2. WCF Provisions on Learner's Written Outputs involved the identification of the Teacher's WCF Style employed. This was done through document analysis of the learners' written narratives. Thematic analysis was used in order to capture the themes on the manner in which the Teacher employed her preferred WCF style and the following themes emerged: (1) Encircles, underlines, and crosses out errors; (2) Makes explicit corrections on spelling, word choice and verb tense; and (3) Adds words or sentences to improve construction. 3. The Learners' Responses toward the Teacher's Direct WCF Style explained the learners various responses toward the Teacher's Direct WCF Style. This included the learners' reasons behind their preferred WCF style, the learners' uptake and their reflections. Thematic analysis was also used to decipher the learners' reasons behind their preferred WCF style and their reflections. As regards the learners' preferred Teacher WCF style, during the focus group discussion, the learners admitted that they preferred it if their teacher provide them with Direct written corrective feedback. Meanwhile, for the reasons behind their preference, two themes emerged: (1) they could detect their errors easily; and (2) they could understand the correction better. All these pertain to the use of Direct written corrective feedback. As to the learners' uptake or the learners' immediate responses to the teacher's corrective feedback on learner errors in their written narratives, the learners' uptake was considered successful because they have demonstrated that they understood the linguistic form and were able to incorporate if not all, most of the teacher's written corrections. Lastly, the learners also shared their reflections in this activity. These are the themes that emerged in the scrutiny of their reflections: (1) The Teacher's role in giving written corrective feedback is very important; and (2) Learners can correct their errors and improve their written work with the help of the Teacher.