The Effects of Face-to-Face vs. Digital Feedback in an EFL Writing Context: Comparison of Two Turkish State Universities

Abstract

The current research aims to explore the effects of Face to Face vs. Digital/Written Feedback on students' writing skills in an EFL Context; The participants are university students (N:38) from two state Turkish universities, at the School of Foreign Languages (Preparatory School) with a target language level of B2. The quantitative data was collected from the pre-test and post-test scores of opinion essay writings. The experimental group was exposed to face-to-face/oral feedback of hard copy papers, while the comparison group was exposed to digital/written feedback of soft copy papers. The qualitative data was collected from written interviews eliciting students’ perceptions of face-to-face and digital feedback. Quantitative data was analyzed through The Mann-Whitney U test and Wilcoxon S-R test due to non-normal data distribution. The qualitative data was analyzed via Content Analysis by using CLAN (Computerized Language Analysis) Program. The findings indicated that both digital and face-to-face feedback had a significantly positive effect on students’ writing skills, however, face-to-face feedback was significantly more effective than digital feedback. The interview findings were in line with the quantitative findings and revealed that Face to face feedback was found more effective than digital feedback because it provides communication, negotiation, immediate clarification and a better learning context for students.