SỞ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO TỈNH VĨNH PHÚC
TRƯỜNG TRUNG HỌC PHỔ THÔNG CHUYÊN VĨNH PHÚC

BÁO CÁO CHUYÊN ĐỀ
Suggestions for ESL Teachers to Write Feedback
in ESL Learners’ Writing.
Môn
Tổ bộ môn
Người thực hiện
Điện thoại
Email

: Tiếng Anh
: Ngoại Ngữ
: Nguyễn Thị Thanh Nhân
: 0912.468.689
: [email protected]

Vĩnh Yên, tháng 5, năm 2015


TABLE OF CONTENT
Content

Page

Chapter I. Introduction
1. Background
2. Rationale
3. Research questions
4. Scope of the study

Chapter 4. Findings and Discussion
Chapter 5. Recommendation and Conclusion

10
12

Appendices
Reference

14
17

2
2
3
3
4
5
6

2


Chapter I. Introduction
1. Background
Vinh Phuc Gifted High School where I work as a full-time teacher is well-known
for its education quality with about 900 students who are selected into 30 classes
majoring in 10 subjects – Mathematics, Informatics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology,
History, Geography, Literature, English and French. All of the students who come from
different parts of the province have to take part in the high school entrance exam and a

as the only source of authority value teacher revision more highly than other methods
because they have confidence in the teacher’s knowledge and skill in English. Teacher
written feedback or handwritten commentary is a primary method to respond to
3


students’ essays to assist students’ writing development; teacher written comments on
the students’ drafts indicate problems and make suggestions for improvement of future
papers. Through feedback teachers can help students compare their own performance
with the ideal and to diagnose their own strengths and weaknesses. Therefore, it is high
time for me to do a research on “Suggestions for ESL Teachers to Write Feedback in
ESL Learners’ Writing.” with the hope that my students can improve their writing skill
via my feedback and the findings of the research might be used by other teachers in
giving feedback to students’ writing.
3. Research questions
Searching effective ways of giving feedback in ESL learners’ writing, I really want
to find the answers for the two questions below.
1. What are my students’ preferences when receiving feedback?
2. What are effective ways of giving feedback in ELS learners’ writing?
4. Scope of the study
It is the fact that, feedback in writing is such a huge topic that it attracts much
consideration from many ESL researchers. From a purely practical demand, this study
is conducted to investigate the needs of students in teacher written feedback and provide
some suggestions for ESL teachers to give feedback effectively.

4


Chapter II. Literature review
In this part, all the aspects concerning the hypotheses inspiring the research will

There are many feedback modes in writing corrective feedback including peer
feedback, self-monitoring, computer-mediated feedback, teachers’ written corrective
feedback and teacher-student conferencing. Due to the limitation of the study, only
teachers’ written corrective feedback is concerned.
According to Li (2009), many teachers have a notion that it is necessary for them
to write substantial comments on writing papers to provide reader reaction to students’
effort, to help them improve as writers and to justify the grade given.
5


One important point of using written feedback is that it serves as the motivation
factor in the ESL writing process. Ellis (1994) reminds that students’ motivation is
closely linked to language acquisition. In order to motivate students, the writing
teachers can include comments of praise and encouragements in their written feedback
which can help students clarify meaning in their rewriting. Additionally, the teachers’
use of referential or open questions may result in more meaning negotiation and more
complex learner output.
However, Hyland (2006) also pointed out some challenges that teachers can
encounter while writing feedback in students’ writing. Early research on native English
speakers (L1) suggested that much written feedback was of poor quality and was
frequently misunderstood by students. Written response was considered vague,
inconsistent and authoritarian, overly concerned with error and often functioning to
appropriate, or take over, students’ texts by being too directive.
Li (2009) declared that in Chinese EFL writing context, there is usually no
variety in teacher feedback technique. Teachers find it time-consuming and laborintensive when marking and correcting students’ writings; therefore, they often ignore
reviewing students’ writing word by word and correcting every single problem of
students. That is the reason why students seldom reflect on the mistakes they have made
and the teachers’ great efforts are not fully valued. Literature on how to make this
conventional feedback mode benefit students better will be discussed further in
subsequent parts of this thesis.

feedback that clearly shown specific grammar errors. The results of this study also
suggest that when grammar and content feedback are presented at the same time, the
content of rewrites improves approximately as much as when the content feedback is
only given. Focus on grammar does not negatively affects the content of writing. This
would further affirm that students can improve their writing where content and form
feedback is provided simultaneously.
4.2.2. Direct feedback and indirect feedback
Direct error feedback is provided when the correct form is written on students’
papers while indirect error feedback is provided if the teachers indicates the location of
the error indirectly by underlining, highlighting or circling or indirectly by indicating in
the margins that there is an error on that line but without providing correct form (Lee,
2005). Indirect feedback is regarded as coded error feedback if the indication is done by
a symbol representing a specific kind of error such as “Sp” for spelling, “T’ for verb
tense. If the indication of the errors is done by the kind of error (spelling, verb tense), it
is called uncoded error feedback. In indirect feedback, the students are required both to
identify the types of errors and to self correct the error meanwhile in direct feedback,
what students have to do is transcribe the teacher’s corrections into the paper (Ferris,
2003) and much research evidence indicates that indirect error feedback is more helpful
on long-term writing development than direct error feedback.
4.2.3. Timing of feedback and correctives
According to Cole and Chan (1994), teachers should give feedback and
correctives after students have made genuine attempts to complete assigned tasks. It is
vital for teachers to give frequent feedback and correctives during the early stages of
learning a new subject matter. Student will learn more quickly if regular feedback is
available during the initial stages of learning. If early errors in the process of acquiring
new knowledge are uncorrected, they may interfere with subsequent learning.
Moreover, when students are allowed to practice errors, inappropriate ways of writing
gradually consolidated and such persistent errors can be difficult to eradicate (Cole &
Chan, 1994)
7

best corrected by the teacher whereas spelling and punctuation mistakes should be taken
care of by students themselves.
In terms of what aspects in students’ writing should be treated with feedback
most surveys show that students want teacher feedback to highlight their grammatical
errors, some indicate that they also want teachers to give them feedback on the content
and ideas in their writing (Hedgcock & Lefkowitz, 1994). However, in Odalejo’s
experiment (2003), errors related to organization of ideas should receive highest
attention for correction. Grammar treatment rank next in the order of preferences with
more than 96% of the learners indicating that this error type deserve high attention or
some attention.
In Leki’s (2006) research on students’ opinions about the value of written
feedback, most students reported that they found feedback very useful but many also
8


said that they would have liked even more, especially feedback helping them to identify
problems and giving them information about academic and disciplinary expectations.
They also wanted their feedback to have a dual content/ language focus. Hence, there
must be a need for more investigations to address question on how L2 instructors /
teachers can work to meet students’ need.
Chapter III. Methodology
3.1. The selection of subjects
To answer the questions of the research which aims at obtaining information on
what students’ preferences are when receiving written feedback from the teachers and
then find some suggestions for teachers to give feedback in teaching writing in second
language classes. 33 students, mostly females, 18 years old in grade 12A8, Vinh Phuc
Gifted High School are chosen. Their English proficiency is rated as intermediate with
some ranked at upper-intermediate.
The secondary structure approach was also chosen while doing this research
paper. 7 articles relating to the research questions of teacher written feedback on ESL

N
o.

Strongly
disagreed

Disagreed Agreed

1

Teachers should correct and
comment your writing in written
feedback

2

Teachers should pay attention to the
organization of your writing when
giving written feedback

36%

3

Teachers should pay attention to the
content of your writing when giving
written feedback

33,4%


54,5%

45,5%

8

Teachers should point out students’
errors indirectly

45,5%

54,5%

9

When giving feedback, teacher
should provide advice and include
explanations, and employed openended questions.

Strongly
agreed
100%

64%

66,6%

48,5%

66,6%

writing (100%). The findings showed that marginal comments, requests for
clarification, and comments on grammatical issues led to the most effective revisions.
ESL students attach a great deal of importance to writing accuracy and are eager to
obtain the teacher’s comments on their errors. They expect teachers to comment on
their written errors and are frustrated if this does not happen and grammar feedback has
been viewed as helpful by ESL students.
Although most students require teacher feedback to highlight their grammatical
errors, some (66,6 %) reveal that they also want teachers to give them feedback on the
content and ideas in their writing. The students also indicated that they preferred
comments that provided advice, included explanations, and employed open-ended
questions. Therefore, when giving feedback on student errors, writing teachers should
also give students comments on their content and provide several tips on how to
improve their writing. As Chi (1999) points out, students appreciate comments that
reflect the teacher’s involvement and engage them in an exchange about their writing.
Direct feedback is a technique of correcting students’ error by giving an explicit
written correction. On the other hand, indirect feedback is when the teacher indicates
that an error has been made by means of an underline, circle, code, etc. Both methods
can improve student’s writing, and a number of students (54,5%) think that indirect
feedback is generally more appropriate and effective than direct feedback .
In addition, when students feel that indirect feedback is useful in encouraging
them to reflect on aspects of their writing and to develop improvements (Miceli, 2006).
Indirect feedback can be done by a code representing a specific kind of error. When
giving indirect feedback, teachers underline errors and use codes to indicate the type of
error such as SP (spelling error), P (fault in punctuation), and VT (wrong verb tense).
11


This method gives students the opportunity to fix errors themselves. However, teachers
should familiarize their students with the codes, so that they will not be surprised when
they see teacher written comments.

12


This study contributes to research in highlighting students’ positive thinking of the
important role of teacher written feedback in developing students’ writing skills. An
important implication for ESL writing is that although teacher feedback is considered
more effective by many students, feedback methods with appropriately applied to
students may well serve as an important supporting role in helping learners in their
writing. A combination of both types of feedback methods is thus crucial in the effort to
improve students’ writing in the ESL classroom.
On the other hand, teachers should be aware of the importance of providing
effective feedback for the development of ESL learners’ thinking and writing. Feedback
can encourage and advance student learning if it focuses on ‘growth rather than
grading’ (Sadler, 1983: 60). To make use of its full potential, students must be able to
self-manage learning and lecturers have a role in encouraging and motivating this
ability within students (Nicol and MacFarlane-Dick, 2006). Thus, teachers may present
themselves as helpful facilitators offering support and guidance.
Lastly, to give effective feedback to students to improve their written accuracy,
classroom realities and the preferences of students must be considered. In ESL writing
classes, students need teachers to check about the mistakes they made. When teachers
give feedback, they should show students examples of how they can apply to improve
their writing and give them the opportunity to talk in class to express their ideas and to
discuss any challenging analytical issues. In addition, written feedback must be done
politely. Remember mitigated commentary can be used as a tool to increase student
motivation, engagement, and interest.
The researchers suggested that teachers have to come up with an effective method
of feedback that takes into account the shortcomings of common methods of feedback,
the positive aspects of them and the desires of students. The goals of a particular writing
course are one of the main factors that need to be considered when determining how to
provide feedback. Feedback that is a mismatch with assignment or course goals may be

further developed in individual conferences. Aside from using conferences to determine
if students understand and are making use of feedback, teachers can also use them to
explain their comments to the students. Conferences are an excellent time for teachers
and students to ask direct questions to each other and uncover any misunderstandings
by either party. One way to do this would be to present students with pre-conference
sheets that allow them to prepare questions for the teacher beforehand. Likewise, the
teacher should also prepare a list of comments and questions before the conference.
For the motivation and praise from teacher on students’ writing, many
researchers also indicated that the role of teachers in providing effective feedback for
ESL learners is essential . According to Barkaoui (2007), teachers need to: a) motivate
students, b) model effective revision strategies, c) raise students’ awareness about the
importance of (re)seeing their texts from the reader’s perspective, d) encourage students
to reflect on and self-assess their own writing, and e) use appropriate writing tasks and
activities for teaching and assessment. Feedback can serve as guidance for eventual
writing development as far as students are concerned (Hyland, 2003). So, teachers
should offer self–correction opportunity for their students by providing indirect
feedback on student’s grammatical errors.
Writing teachers should not simply respond to grammar and content but should
include comments of praise and encouragement in their written feedback. Mitigation
has been found to improve the confidence of students and lead them to be responsible
for their writing (Weaver, 2006). To support effective written feedback, teachers should
keep in mind that positive feedback is considered ‘positive reinforcement’ whereas
negative feedback is considered ‘punishment’ (Brookhart, 2010: 11). Thus, teachers
should be polite and mitigate their written feedback.
14


As students see the surpassing benefits of intermediate feedback over delayed
feedback, teachers should give feedback and correctives after students have made
genuine attempts to complete assigned tasks. It is vital for teachers to give frequent

comment your writing in written
feedback

2

Teachers should pay attention to
the organization of your writing
when giving written feedback

3

Teachers should pay attention to
the content of your writing when
giving written feedback

4

Teachers should pay attention to
vocabulary of your writing when
giving written feedback

5

Teachers should pay attention to
grammar of your writing when
giving written feedback

6

Teachers should pay attention to

papers
Indirect error feedback is provided if the teachers indicate the location of the
error indirectly by underlining, highlighting or circling or indirectly by indicating in the
margins that there is an error on that line but without providing correct form
(Lee, 2005)
Question 2. If your teacher asks you to revise your writing, when do you prefer
your teacher to provide corrective feedback? Circle the one you find it most
appropriate.
A. On the first draft
B. On the second draft
C. On the final draft
D. On every draft

17


References
Barkaoui, K. (2007) Revision in Second Language Writing: What Teachers Need to
Know. TESL Canada Journal, 25(1): 81-92.
Brookhart, S. M. (2010) How to Give Effective Feeback to Your Students.
Instructional Supervision & Evaluation: The Teaching Process, pp. 10-18.
Chandler, J. (2003) The Efficacy of Various Error Feedback for Improvement in the
Accuracy and Fluency of L2 Student Writing.Journal of Second Language Writing. 12:
267-296.
Chi, F. (1999) The Writer, the Teacher, and the Text: Examples from Taiwanese EFL
College Students. Paper Presented at the World Congress of Applied Linguistics.
Retrieved March 10, 2011, ERIC database.
Cohen, A. D. and Cavalcanti, M. (1990) Feedback on Compositions: Teacher and
Student Verbal Reports. In B. Krou (Ed.), Second Language Writing, pp. 155-177. New
York: Cambridge University Press.

Assessment Feedback Useful. Active Learning in Higher Education, 9(3): 217-230.
Richards, J. C. and Lockhart, C. (1996) Reflective Teaching in Second Language
Classrooms.
Sadler, D. (1983) Evaluation and Improvement of Academic Learning.Journal of
Higher Education, 54(1): 60-79.
Saito, H. (1994) Teachers’ Practices and Students’ Preferences for Feedback on Second
Language Writing: A Case Study of Adult ESL Learners. TESL Canada Journal, 11:
246-270.
Sträub, R. (1997) Students’ Reactions to Teacher Comments: An Exploratory Study.
Research in the Teaching of English, 31(1): 91-119.
Tribble, C. (1996) Writing. Oxford.

19