VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES LÊ HẢI ĐOÀN THE STUDENTS’ATTITUDES TOWARDS TEACHERS’WRITTEN FEEDBACK STRATEGIES ON THEIR WRITINGS AT VOCATIONAL COLLEGE OF POSTS AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS (Thái độ sinh viên cách thức phản hồi dạng viết giáo viên viết sinh viên trường Cao đẳng nghề Bưu Chính Viễn Thơng) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 HANOI – 2016 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES LÊ HẢI ĐOÀN THE STUDENTS’ATTITUDES TOWARDS TEACHERS’WRITTEN FEEDBACK STRATEGIES ON THEIR WRITINGS AT VOCATIONAL COLLEGE OF POSTS AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS (Thái độ sinh viên cách thức phản hồi dạng viết giáo viên viết sinh viên trường Cao đẳng nghề Bưu Chính Viễn Thơng) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 Supervisor: Assoc Prof Dr Lê Hùng Tiến HANOI - 2016 DECLARATION I, Lê Hải Đoàn, hereby declare that this thesis is my own work, and I have provided fully documented references to the work of others In addition, this thesis has not been submitted for assessment in other formal courses in any other university I also accept all the requirements of ULIS relating to the retention and use of M.A Graduation Thesis deposited in the library Hanoi, 2016 Lê Hải Đoàn i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First of all, I would like to express my sincere thanks to Associate Professor, Doctor Le Hung Tien, for the support, guidance and valuable critical feedback His help, stimulating suggestion and encouragement helped me a lot right from the beginning to the end of this study I would like acknowledge my thanks to the students at Vocational College of Posts and Telecommunications in Hanoi who helped me a lot and showed great willingness to take part in my survey My special thanks also go to my lecturers, my friends, my classmates for valuable comments and criticism, their interest and encouragement Last but not least, I want to express my deepest gratitude to my parents and friends for their love, care, tolerance and encouragement ii ABSTRACT This study investigates the students‘ attitudes towards teachers‘ written feedback at Vocational College of Posts and Telecommunications in Hanoi The participants included 80 non-English major freshmen The data were collected from survey questionnaire and the interview with 12 students at different level of English proficiency The results show that the students highly valued the importance of teacher‘s feedback and had different attitudes towards each type of them; especially they prefer direct feedback to the others It is suggested that the use of direct should be maintained regularly, so as to not only satisfy student‘s interests on writing, but also improve students‘ writing fluency by practicing writing In terms of the students‘ comprehension of teacher written feedback, the results show that most of them had difficulty in understanding uncoded and content feedback Based on their responses about the ways they deal with the feedback, they are divided into two groups: independent students who themselves tried to understand teacher written feedback through books or internet and dependent students who asked their teacher or friends for help Thus, it is expected that the research results can provide EFL writing teachers with pedagogical implications to improve EFL students‘ writing performance iii TABLE OF CONTENT DECLARATION i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii ABSTRACT iii TABLE OF CONTENT iv LIST OF ABBREVIATION TERMS vi LIST OF TABLES vii PART 1: INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale of the study Aims of the study Research questions Significance of the study Scope of the study Method of the study Design of the study PART 2: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW Theoretical background of L2 writing 1.1 Definition of L2 writing 1.2 Teaching L2 writing Feedback on student‘s writings 2.2 Teachers‘ feedback versus peers ‗feedback Theoretical background of teacher written feedback 3.1 Feedback on grammatical errors 3.2 Feedback on content 14 Students‘ perceptions of teacher written feedback 16 4.1 Definition of attitude 16 4.2 Students‘ attitudes towards teacher written feedback 16 CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 19 iv 2.1 Context of the study 19 2.2 Participants 20 2.3 Methods of data collection 21 2.3.1 Attitude questionnaire 21 2.3.2.Interviews 22 2.4 Teacher written feedback used in this study 23 2.5 Data Collection Procedure 24 CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 25 3.1 Findings 25 3.1.1 Answer to Research Question 25 3.1.2 Answer to Research Question 30 3.1.3 Answer to Research Question 33 3.2 Discussion 36 3.2.1 Direct feedback 36 3.2.2 Coded feedback 37 3.2.3 Uncoded feedback 38 3.2.4 Content feedback 39 PART 3: CONCLUSION 40 Conclusion 40 2.Recommendation 41 Limitations of the study 41 Recommendations for further studies 42 REFERENCES 43 APPENDICES I v LIST OF ABBREVIATION TERMS L2 Second language ESL English as a Second Language EFL English as a Foreign Language vi LIST OF TABLES Table Types of grammatical error Table Types of written feedback Table Student‘ frequency of writing in High school and College Table 4.1 The students‘ attitudes towards the importance of teacher‘s written feedback Table 4.2 : The students‘ satisfaction with teacher‘ written feedback Table 4.3 The students‘ perception with regard to the helpfulness of teacher written feedback Table 4.4: The students‘ perceptions with regard to the clarity of teacher written feedback Table 4.5 : The students‘ perceptions towards the suitability of teacher written feedback Table 4.6 : The students‘ preference towards teacher‘ written feedback Table 4.7 : The students‘ comprehension of the teacher written feedback Table 4.8 : The students‘ attempt to understand the teacher written feedback Table 4.9 : The students‘ problem regarding teacher written feedback Table 4.10 : The students‘ attention to teacher written feedback Table 4.11 : The student‘s careful thought to teacher written feedback Table 4.12 : The students‘ attention to teacher written feedback if not being asked to revise vii PART 1: INTRODUCTION Rationale of the study ―What is the shortest word in the English language that contains the letters: abcdef? Answer: Feedback Don't forget that feedback is one of the essential elements of good communication.‖ (Anonymous) English writing, going with global development, has become an important instrument for students to get better jobs Advice, evaluation, grades - none of these may give the descriptive information that students need to reach their goals in writing Moreover, marking student‘ writing is always considered one of the most difficult tasks for an English teacher After receiving students‘ written work, teacher starts correcting errors, rearranging word order, leaving comments and eventually giving the mark Some researchers in writing (Leki, 1991; Raimes, 1983) have belief in that giving feedback is one of the important methods for teachers to help the student writers improve their writing pieces Up to now, feedback used in educational context is considered as an essential part of the teaching and learning process to improve knowledge and skill acquisition Although many studies have been written on the subject of error correction in writing and the question about its‘ effectiveness is open-ended, we have to admit that students want feedback and teachers feel obliged to provide it Moreover, many studies give more attention to the importance of feedback, the ways of providing and receiving feedback and how feedback has effect on students‘ writing We can see in the study of Lee (2005), Noora (2006).―What have been neglected in those studies are preferences and attitudes of the learners and teachers towards error correction‖ (Katayama,2007) He also stated:― Differences in learners‖ learning styles affected the learning environment by either supporting or inhibiting their intentional cognition and active engagement‖ In addition, ―matching the learning styles of the students and the teaching style of the teacher would help improve students‘ learning, attitudes, behavior, and motivation‖ (Ferris, 2003) APPENDIX B PHIẾU KHẢO SÁT Thái độ sinh viên cách thức phản hồi dạng viết giáo viên Hướng dẫn : Những câu hỏi nhằm mục đích thu thập ý kiến em phục vụ cho khảo sát.Các em trả lời câu hỏi thái độ em cách thức phản hồi dạng viết giáo viên viết em.Các em trả lời độc lập.Tất thông tin cá nhân ý kiến em đươc bảo mật tuyệt đối Phần : Thông tin cá nhân 1.Tuổi : _ 2.Giới tính : Nam / Nữ 3.Em học tiếng Anh năm 4.Điểm kiểm tra cuối kỳ trước em điểm? _ 5.Khi trường phổ thơng,em có thường luyện viết tiếng Anh khơng? Khơng Không thường Thỉnh thoảng Thường xuyên xuyên 6.Khi lên Đại Học,Cao Đẳng em có thường xuyên luyện viết tiếng Anh không? Không Không thường Thỉnh thoảng Thường xuyên xuyên Phần 2: *Ví dụ loại phản hồi dạng viết giáo viên VII - Phản hồi trực tiếp : I give she a book (her) (Direct feedback) - Phản hồi mã hóa : She eat too much cheese (vf) (Coded feedback) -Phản hồi không mã hóa: They go to hospital now (Uncoded feedback) -Phản hồi nội dung : “Em làm tốt, em cố gắng phát huy thêm” “Em cần ý nhiều vị trí tính từ cụm danh từ” (Content feedback) I Thái độ sinh viên phản hồi dạng viết giáo viên 7.Các em thấy việc thầy cô đưa phản hồi viết em có quan trọng khơng? Khơng quan trọng 2.Khá quan trọng Bình thường Rất quan trọng Khi nhận loại phản hồi thầy cô viết mình, ,các em có hài lịng với chúng khơng? Hãy đánh dấu (V) vào ô trống để đánh giá Các loại phản hồi dạng Hoàn toàn viết giáo viên khơng hài lịng Khơng hài lịng Khá hài lòng Rất hài lòng Phản hồi trực tiếp Phản hồi mã hóa Phản hồi khơng mã hóa Phản hồi nội dung Các em có thấy phản hồi thầy/cô viết nhà em hữu ích giúp em viết tốt viết không? Các em đánh dấu (V) vào ô trống để đánh giá VIII Các loại phản hồi dạng Khơng hữu ích Có chút hữu ích Khá hữu ích Rất hữu ích viết giáo viên Phản hồi trực tiếp Phản hồi mã hóa Phản hồi khơng mã hóa Phản hồi nội dung 10 Các em có thấy loại phản hồi thầy cô viết rõ ràng viết em không?? Hãy đánh dấu (V) vào ô trống để đánh giá Các loại phản hồi dạng Không rõ ràng Không rõ ràng viết giáo viên Khá rõ ràng Rất rõ ràng Phản hồi trực tiếp Phản hồi mã hóa Phản hồi khơng mã hóa Phản hồi nội dung 11 Những phản hồi thầy cô sát phù hợp với viết em 1.Hồn tồn khơng phù hợp 2.Khơng phù hợp 3.Khá phù hợp Rất phù hợp 12.Loại phản hồi em thích nhận nhiều viết tiếp theo? Các em chọn phương án 1.Phản hồi trực tiếp 2.Phản hồi mã hóa 3.Phản hồi khơng mã hóa Phản hồi nội dung II.Mức độ hiểu sinh viên phản hồi giáo viên IX 13 Khi đọc phản hồi thầy cơ,các em có hiểu khơng? Hãy đánh dấu (V) vào ô trống để đánh giá loại phản hồi Các loại phản hồi dạng Hoàn toàn không viết giáo viên hiểu Hơi hiểu Hiểu vừa vừa Hiểu gần hết Phản hồi trực tiếp Phản hồi mã hóa Phản hồi khơng mã hóa Phản hồi nội dung 14 Khi thấy có chỗ khơng hiểu phản hồi thầy cơ,các em có cố gắng tìm cách để hiểu khơng? Khơng Thỉnh thoảng Thường thường Luôn 15 Em có thường xuyên gặp khó khăn việc đọc hiểu loại phản hồi không?Nhấn dấu (V) vào ô trống Các loại phản hồi dạng Không Thỉnh thoảng Thường thường Luôn viết giáo viên Phản hồi trực tiếp Phản hồi mã hóa Phản hồi khơng mã hóa Phản hồi nội dung IV.Mức độ ý sinh viên phản hồi giáo viên 16 Khi thầy cô trả có kèm theo phản hồi,các em có thường đọc đọc lại viết khơng? Khơng Thỉnh thoảng X Bình thường Ln 17 Khi nhận phản hồi thầy cô viết,các em có thường suy nghĩ kỹ phản hồi khơng ? Khơng Thỉnh thoảng Thường thường Luôn 18.Nếu không bắt buộc phải xem lại viết nhà mình,em có ý đến phản hồi thầy cô không? Không Một chút Bình thường Rất ý Cảm ơn em hợp tác XI APPENDIX C INTERVIEW SCRIPTS IN ENGLISH (SUMMARY) Q1 :.Do think feedback you S1: The direct feedback given by the teacher was very useful direct for my writing because he corrected directly the errors, is however, I want the teacher to only give codes on the errors useful for your without correcting so that I myself correct them writing? Why? S2: Yes, it is useful for my writing I could know the correct answer Although direct feedback was useful however because grammatical errors were pointed out by the teacher, I just copied them S3: Yes, it was good for my writing because the errors were corrected by the teacher However I soon forgot them because I myself did not correct them S4: It was very helpful because I realized the errors I made and the teacher corrected them S5: It was very useful The corrects were corrected by the teachers and I believed that they were correct S6: It was useful because I knew what the errors were and how to correct them so that I would not make the same errors in the following writings S7: I think it was very useful The teacher corrected the errors and I just followed S8:It was useful and I liked direct feedback the most S9: This type of feedback was very good, sir because the XII teacher corrected directly the errors that sometimes I did not find out it and how to correct them S10:I like direct feedback and I think it was very helpful I did not study English well so that this type of feedback helped me know what errors I made and how to correct them correctly S11:Direct feedback was very useful for my writing because I just followed what the teacher corrected S12:It was very useful because I knew how to correct the errors Q2 : Do you S1:It was quite useful for my writing because when I saw the think feedback coded codes, I knew what types of errors I made so that I could correct is them useful for your S2: This type of teacher written feedback let me see the errors writing? Why? and what kinds of errors I made so that I could correct them well and easily S3: I think it was useful because depending on the coded the teacher gave, I knew how I made errors and corrected them S4: Following the codes, I could correct the errors and remembered them S5: It was useful because I knew the error types and self-correct them S6:Yes, it was useful The given codes helped me learn from my errors However, sometimes I did not know how to correct them S7: It was very useful because basing on the codes the teacher gave, I knew what kind of error I made and then I found the suitable way to correct errors I am sure that I will not make the XIII same errors in following writings S8: I often asked my friends for help when I got coded feedback to correct them and I think it is rather useful S9: It was useful Some codes were given many times in the past by the teacher, so I knew what they stand for I often searched on the internet to correct them S10:In my opinion, it was useful however I usually asked my friends to explain what codes stand for because I did not remember them S11:I did not care much about it, I just asked my friend to tell me about the meaning of those codes S12:It was useful, I often asked my friends in proficiency group to help me understand what those codes mean and how to correct the errors Q3 : Do you S1:I think it was very useful because I had to use my think uncoded knowledge to define what types of errors and how to correct feedback is them useful for your S2:I like this type of feedback the most because the teacher writing? Why? circled my errors I had to think about them and try to correct them based on many ways S3:It was very useful because I liked the way I was challenged to self correct the errors When I corrected the errors by myself, I remembered them S4: My teacher underlined the errors I made, so I had to think to know why these points were incorrect and found the way to correct them Correcting errors by myself helped me remember them and then I would not make this kind of error in the future XIV S5:I was so confused because the teacher just circled the errors I did not know what types of errors I made were and how to correct them S6:It is hard to say that I think it was quite difficult for me to improve my writing when I did not how to correct the errors S7:When the teacher gave this type of feedback, I had to guess the answer I often felt uncomfortable to ask the teacher for help because I was afraid being complained The responses from my friends seemed not to be authentic S8:I agreed that the teacher used this type of feedback to let us self define the types of errors and how to correct them However frankly ,I did not know what correct answers should be S9:I dislike this type of feedback and I did not think that it is helpful for my writing I think every students in the low proficiency group will have the same idea S10:It was very hard for me to correct the errors without any comments from the teacher I had to ask my friends for help many times However, many friends also did not know the answers S11: I think it was not helpful for my writing I am not good at English, thus that the teacher only underlined or circled my errors would make me get stuck in correcting them I did not know why they were wrong and how to correct them S12:The teacher just located my errors without showing any codes Uncoded feedback did not help me much to improve my writing XV Q4 : Do you S1:I think it was very useful because the teacher often gave think content some comments in detail The teacher suggested some ideas for feedback is my writing and actually I like reading comments more than just useful for your seeing codes on my writing writing? Why? S2:Content feedback was very useful for my writing because the teacher often gave the comment about the content of my writing : What I should and should not to write better in the following writings S3:I think it was useful for me because sometimes I had difficulty in expressing my opinions in the writing Moreover, I also wanted to read his attitude towards my writing S4:Yes,It was useful because I always looked forward to the teacher‘s guidance to improve my writing S5:I like this type of feedback the most because I learnt a lot from his comment, especially the criticism, so that I could improve my writing S6:I think it was helpful because it helped me improve my writing and revise the content easily based on the teacher‘ guideline S7:Yes,I think it was useful because the comment of the teacher was an important and authentic source for me to improve my writing I often asked my friends for help when I did not understand the meaning of some words in the teacher‘s content feedback S8:I think it was rather helpful because I knew how the teacher thought about and supported for my writing S9:In my opinion, it was helpful when I could understand what XVI the teacher meant Sometimes, it was hard for me to translate his content feedback into Vietnamese to understand what he wrote S10:Yes,it was useful because my teacher often gave some advices to me to improve my writing S11:Yes,I liked to read content feedback given by my teacher because he guide me how to express my idea However, sometimes I did not what he meant S12:It was useful for my writings although I often misunderstood it However basing on the guideline and my teacher‘ comment in detail on my writing, I tried to understand and follow them I saw my following writings be improved Q5: Do you have S1:No, I could understand immediately when my teacher any problems in pointed out the errors understanding your S2:No, I am familiar to the codes my teacher used, so It was not teacher’ difficult for me to understand what the errors were.‖ written S3:I did not have any difficulties in understanding teacher‘ feedback? yes, can If written feedback you specify them? S4:I understood almost S5:Yes,I often had problems in understanding teacher‘ written feedback Uncoded feedback was so difficult for me to correct the errors and content feedback was sometimes difficult to understand because of new words and new phrases S6:Yes,especially uncoded and content feedback In some cases I could correct the errors by my self basing on the places the teacher underlined However, just basing on them, I could not XVII correct all of my errors I need more codes or I think the teacher could correct them for me in the case of difficult grammar Content feedback consisted of lots of new words S7:Yes,uncoded feedback was so difficult to understand because without the codes I did not know why I made errors and how to correct them Sometimes I also forgot some codes so that I did not how to correct the errors S8:Yes,the teacher just underlined or circled the errors so that I did not know how to correct them I think that the teacher should use much more coded and direct feedback rather than this type of feedback Content feedback also the types that made me get confused because I had to try to understand the feedback and looking up the new words in the dictionary sometimes took me a lot of time S9:Apart from direct feedback, I felt difficult in understand the rest of feedback the teacher used in my writing I did not remember some codes I did not how to correct my errors and understand what the teacher wrote in my writing S10:Yes,a lot For uncoded feedback, my teacher only circled the errors, so I did not understand it clearly S11:Uncoded feedback was very difficult to understand I think this type of feedback should not be provided less for the students at the low proficiency group S12: Some codes my teacher used made me got confused because I did not know clearly what they stand for and of course I did not know how to correct the error Q6 : What S1: I usually connected to the Internet and looked for the related XVIII you usually information It is the easiest and fastest way to have the correct after you read answer after receiving the feedback‖ your teacher’s S2: After my teacher returned feedback to me, I read over it, written feedback defined and corrected some grammatical errors Moreover, I on your tried to understand the teacher‘ comment so that I could know writings? Can what I had to exactly for the following writings‖ you explain your S3:I read over and self-corrected the errors Whatever I choice? misunderstood, I usually ask my teacher S4: I read over them and self-corrected the errors because the feedback given by the teacher were quite clear Something I did not understand clearly, I often asked my friends about their opinion When I found the responses not authentic, I would ask my teacher for the correct answer S5: I often chat with the teacher so I not feel afraid of asking him for help When I asked the teacher, he was very enthusiastic to answer and explain carefully to me The answer from the teacher is the best one S6: I have a book named ―Grammar in use‖, so when I got feedback from my teacher, I often defined the errors I made belongs to which parts in the grammar book After reading the part of grammar again, I myself could correct the errors S7: I feel more comfortable when asking my friends rather than asking my teacher although not all the answers coming my friends were true I am afraid of being said that I not pay much attention to the lecture S8: I often tried to correct the errors if I could However, I often asked my friends to explain the feedback to me, as well XIX S9: I read the feedback carefully to know how to correct the errors and improve my writing When I did not understand, I asked my friends S10: I often read the feedback and corrected the errors Sometimes, I asked my friends to help me correct the errors S11: ―I am sorry for saying that I not pay much attention to the feedback because I not understand it and how to correct the errors.‖ S12: I often asked my friends for help In case of none of the responses were given, I would asked my teacher XX APPENDIX D Error Codes Symbol Explanation Symbol General Items: Explanation Modifiers: // New paragraph ? Meaning unclear ^ Add omitted word/s / Omit word/s; not Adj Use adjective Adv Use adverb poss Use possessive form Preposi tions WF Right word but wrong form expr Expression (affected by L1) Prep Punct uation: Add preposition C/CAP Capitalize P Incorrect punctuation Syntax: Nouns: pro agr Pronoun agreement mistake art Article mistake ( ) F/ Frag ( ) R/ R-O Fragment ger/ G Use gerund N Use noun num/ # Number; singular pro/PR Use pronoun REF Pronoun reference unclear error Run- on sentence S/V Subject/ verb needed WO Wrong order coh Coherence (one idea does not lead to the plural) next) Sentence structure Verbs: ss VC Voice change SV agr Connectors Incorrect conjunction / connective Subject/ verb agreement Conj/ Wrong L Conn vt/ verb tense Link/combine VT Add relative pronoun Incorrect verb form Modal R/PR vf/VF problem mod aux inf cond Lexical items Auxiliary verb Use infinitive Incorrect spelling sp Incorrect use/ to formation of a conditional (According Klassen 1991, Bates et al 1993, Ingram and King 1996) Word choice/wrong word sentence wch/ ww Style XXI Informl PAR Too informal Faulty parallelism T/S Improve topic sentence ... study is conducted at Vocational College of Posts and Telecommunications, a vocational college in Thanh Xuan district, Hanoi, Vietnam It belongs to Posts and Telecommunications Institute of Technology... questions: What are the students’ attitudes towards teachers’ written feedback strategies? To what extent the students understand the teacher’ written feedback? How the students handle the feedback. .. handle feedback when they did not understand it 39 PART 3: CONCLUSION Conclusion The present study focused on investigating the students‘ attitudes towards, their comprehension of, and their attention