TPSOL Teachers' Beliefs about Providing Corrective Feedback on Learners' Writing Performance: A Transcendental Phenomenology

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate Teaching Persian to Speakers of Other Languages (TPSOL) teachers' beliefs about providing corrective feedback (CF) on TPSOL students' writing. To that end, the transcendental phenomenological design was used in which the experiences and practices of six TPSOL teachers (four male and two female teachers) were examined to obtain TPSOL teachers' beliefs about providing CF on students' writing. A series of phenomenological interviews were conducted with TPSOL teachers. Moreover, students' writing samples corrected by TPSOL teachers were collected and analyzed. Finally, the data were analyzed and synthesized using Giorgi's (2009) five steps framework. The findings indicated that TPSOL teachers believed that (1) providing CF is a pedagogical responsibility of TPSOL teachers, (2) providing CF on local errors is more crucial than global errors, (3) providing direct CF is more beneficial rather than providing indirect and oral CF, (4) peer feedback is not applicable in TPSOL context, and (5) providing CF in the process is more beneficial compared to providing CF as a product. TPSOL teachers believed in providing CF on their students' writings; however, they had different pedagogical beliefs concerning the types and methods of providing CF.