The Role of Written Corrective Feedback in Improving Kurdish EFL University Students’ Writing

Abstract

There has been a long debate about the effect of written corrective feedback (WCF) on improving L2 learners’ linguistic accuracy in writing. Some scholars question the effectiveness of WCF on improving EFL/ESL learners’ linguistic accuracy. However, other researchers argue for the value WCF to the improvement of L2 learners’ writing performance. The current paper conducts an experiment aiming to investigate whether or what type of WCF has any short- and long-terms effects on improving learners’ linguistic accuracy in writing. The study includes 105 third-year-undergraduate EFL students from the English Department in Iraqi Kurdistan Region’s two public universities. The subjects were divided into two main groups: treatment and control. The former was assigned as no corrective feedback group that was merely provided with comments on writing content, and the latter was subdivided into two experimental groups that received either indirect or direct WCF. Data was collected from learner’s essays, tests (pretest, posttest and delayed posttest) and treatments (giving WCF). Over a study period of eight weeks, the present research found out statistically significant differences between the writing accuracy of the treatment groups and the control group. The results of this study have some recommendations for future studies and pedagogical implications.