THE EFFECT of TEACHER FORM-FOCUSED FEEDBACK on EFL LEARNERS`ACCURATE USE of the SIMPLE PAST in COMPOSITION WRITING

Abstract

This study examines the relationship between teacher form -focused feedback and the development of EFL learners' accuracy in composition. Basically, it addresses one main research question: what is the effect of the teacher form–focused feedback on EFL learners' accuracy in using the simple past tense in composition writing? The study adopts a combination of methods (descriptive, experimental and comparative) and multiple research instruments (pupils' written data, pre-and post questionnaires and pre and post grammar tests). We used ten secondary school pupils as experimental and control subjects and examined their performance in three narrative essays and the revisions they made as a result of teacher’s form-focused feedback and unfocused feedback over four weeks. In addition, we examined the extent to which learners made use of teacher correction and the effect of grammar correction on the development of the experimental subjects’ accurate use of the simple past tense (the focused form in teacher correction). The results obtained from the experimental group were compared to those of the control group who received unfocused correction. The study also investigates the relative delayed effects (two weeks after the experiment) of form-focused feedback on learners’ accuracy in the focused structures by examining and comparing subjects’ use of the simple past in the first and second term essays, on one hand, and their scores in the pre and post grammar tests on the other hand. The present study's findings seem to lend support to the effective positive role of the form-focused feedback in improving learners’ accurate use of the focused forms in writing in the short term. As for the relative delayed effect, the type of feedback under scrutiny was found to be more effective in improving learners’ accuracy in the focused forms in grammar oriented- tasks than in composition writing. According to the subjects’ responses to the post questionnaire, conditions such as students’ need to develop their writing accuracy, a positive attitude towards correction and motivation to repair their errors, teacher’s form-focused feedback and the ample time learners need to write and revise their writings were found to be helpful for learners to make more beneficial use of teacher feedback.