Written corrective feedback : an effective practice in the teaching and learning of an L2 ?

Details

Supervisors

Meunier, Fanny

Faculty

Faculté de philosophie, arts et lettres

Degree label

Master [120] en langues et lettres modernes, orientation germaniques, à finalité didactique

Abstract

For several decades the number of studies on written corrective feedback has been growing, partly because of the questions raised by many researchers in this field. Although many scholars and researchers have addressed the issue to find out whether WCF is useful or even necessary in learners’ second language acquisition, the answers (or conclusions to some hypotheses) still remain unclear or unsettled, especially with regard to WCF types and practices. Therefore, the main aim of this MA in the field of didactics is to find out more about the efficiency and usefulness of WCF provided by language teachers while correcting written tasks. In the framework of this MA, I address different theoretical aspects such as the definition of written corrective feedback, the difference between error and mistakes, the different types of WCF, namely their specifies and usefulness. I also focus on the development of written corrective feedback, on different scholars’ studies about WCF and on debates between some prominent researchers. The last theoretical part is devoted to the teacher’s beliefs about WCF and what they could do to provide better WCF (i.e. strategies). In the practical section, two analyses are developed and discussed. The first one focuses on actual corrected written tasks in order to highlight the difference between the literature and what teachers provide as WCF to their L2 learners. The second one investigates the participants’ (i.e. teachers) answers to my questionnaire in order to highlight the similarities and discrepancies between teachers’ beliefs and their practices. The results of both studies have revealed that written corrective feedback is indeed a key element in the process of L2 teaching and learning even though some scholars are not convinced of its effectiveness but those advocating its use outnumber those who think it should be abandoned. Regarding the teachers’ practices, the results have shown that all of them provide their own WCF even though most of them admitted it is time-consuming. They also argued that seminars on how to provide efficient and useful WCF practice would be necessary. However, it has been shown in this MA that even though there is no such thing as perfect WCF, many strategies can be implemented by teachers to give the most appropriate feedback to each student.