The Amount and Usefulness of Written Corrective Feedback Across Different Educational Contexts and Levels

Abstract

This study examined and compared different written corrective feedback techniques used by English as a second language (ESL) teachers in three different educational contexts and levels (primary, secondary, and college) in Quebec, Canada. In particular, it examined whether there were any differences in the types of errors made, the kind and degree of feedback provided, as well as the students’ ability to incorporate the feedback while revising their texts. Data were collected at the three aforementioned contexts from six ESL teachers in their intact classes when they corrected their students’ (N = 128) written essays (drafts and revisions). Results revealed an important difference across the three levels in terms of students’ errors, teachers’ feedback, and students’ revisions. They showed that (a) while grammatical errors were made more frequently by primary students, lexical errors were made more frequently by college students; (b) primary and secondary students received more direct than indirect feedback, while college students received more indirect feedback; (c) the secondary and college students were more successful in incorporating the feedback into their revisions than primary students. La presente etude a examine et compare plusieurs techniques de retroactions correctives ecrites utilisees par des enseignants d’anglais langue seconde (ALS) dans trois contextes et niveaux d’education differents (primaire, secondaire et collegial) au Quebec, au Canada. En particulier, elle a examine s’il existait des differences dans les types d’erreurs qui etaient faites, quelle sorte et quel niveau de retroaction etaient fournis ainsi que la capacite des eleves a integrer la retroaction lorsqu’ils revisaient leurs textes. On a recueilli des donnees dans les trois contextes susmentionnes aupres de six enseignants d’ALS dans leurs classes intactes lorsqu’ils corrigeaient les redactions (brouillons et revisions) de leurs eleves (N = 128). Les resultats ont revele une differenc importante dans les trois niveaux en ce qui concerne les erreurs des eleves, la retroaction des enseignants et les revisions des eleves. Les resultats ont montre que (a), alors que les eleves de primaire faisaient plus d’erreurs grammaticales, les eleves de college faisaient plus d’erreurs lexicales; (b) les eleves de primaire et de secondaire recevaient plus de retroaction directe qu’indirecte, alors que les eleves de college recevaient plus de retroaction indirecte; (c) les eleves de secondaire et de college reussissaient mieux a incorporer la retroaction dans leurs revisions que les eleves de primaire.