The relationship between second language college students’ perceptions of online feedback on draft-writing and academic procrastination

Abstract

Though essay writing is an essential part of postsecondary education, it can be challenging for second language learners, who are required to organize ideas coherently in a language which they have not fully mastered. The present study examined perceptions of draft-writing by students who speak Arabic as their first language and Hebrew as their second language (SL) compared with students who are native Hebrew speakers (FL), in an online formative feedback setting. We also investigated the relation between students’ perceptions towards draft-writing and their academic procrastination. Results pinpoint three major findings: (1) FL students were more likely than SL students to perceive draft-writing as a reasonable way of learning; (2) SL students displayed less positive perceptions of draft-writing than FL students in their first year in college but more positive perceptions in the second year onward; (3) SL students’ procrastination as self-regulated failure was higher during their first year of study than that of FL students. It is suggested that first-year SL students might face a language barrier and difficulties in adapting to academic requirements which prevent them from taking advantage of online assistive devices to improve their grades.