A Study of Different Types of Corrective Feedback on Taiwanese Elementary Students’ Verb Form Accuracy in English Writing

• Main Authors: Su-Fen Wu, 伍素芬
• Other Authors: Ping-Huang Sheu
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2016
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/03794027880159619313

碩士 === 國立臺北教育大學 === 兒童英語教育學系碩士班 === 104 === While the provision of written corrective feedback (WCF) on adult learners with different English proficiency has been extensively investigated, the application of WCF on young EFL writers’ writing accuracy is relatively unexplored. This study aimed to investigate whether Direct and Indirect WCF lead to accuracy gain on six types of verb form errors: (1) simple past errors, (2) incorrect formation of to-infinitive, (3) incorrect formation of past continuous, (4) Subject-Verb agreement errors, (5) base verb errors and (6) incorrect verb past form. Besides, the participants’ responses toward their verb form errors in self-correction after receiving Indirect WCF were also explored. 144 picture story writings produced by four 12-year-old female EFL learners were analyzed after receiving Direct and Indirect WCF during 18 weeks to observe the development of written accuracy improvement on verb forms and the process of self-correction after receiving Indirect WCF. The findings of the current study showed that both Direct and Indirect WCF may lead to accuracy gain on more treatable errors that are rule-based. However both types of WCF did not bring about an overall improvement on the accurate use of simple past. The possible reasons may be due to (1) the frequency and inconsistent correction of Direct WCF, (2) individual difference as well as learners’ attention to WCF, and (3) learners’ misinterpretation to the error types. Besides, Indirect WCF may enable young writers to test language form, and at the same time decreases verb form errors. Some implications were drawn based on the findings. Both types of WCF are supplementary to accuracy improvement on verb forms if young writers are given frequent exposure to WCF and opportunities to self-correction. In addition, teachers who intend to apply WCF on young EFL writers’ verb form errors should take advantage of sustained and multiple uses of both Direct and Indirect WCF to form a more flexible correction scheme that leads to gradual improvement on written accuracy.