Abstract:

The current study investigates the effectiveness of indirect written corrective feedback (WCF) on five different aspects of writing (grammar, language use, mechanic use, content and organization) as perceived by teachers and English-major sophomores in a Vietnamese public university. Specifically, it provides an insight into the effectiveness of this feedback pattern as perceived by the teachers and their students. To fulfill the stated aims, this research utilizes two main instruments, namely questionnaire and in-depth interview. The data from the questionnaire was analysed using statistical procedures. Meanwhile, the data from the interviews was processed using qualitative analysis. With regards to the findings, teachers and students agree that given feedback suits students’ understandability, but somewhat exceeds their self-correction ability. Teachers and students’ perceptions match on the efficacy of indirect WCF for the treatment of grammatical errors and its inefficacy for the betterment of content. Both parties also remain neutral about the correction efficiency of this feedback pattern regarding lexical and mechanical errors. Finally, organization is the aspect on which the perceptions between two sides mismatch the most. Teachers and students also share several reasons in accounting for their perceptions. The findings implicate that changes should be made to feedback-giving practices of teachers and feedback-handling practices of students to enhance the effectiveness of indirect WCF.

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