The Effect of Direct and Indirect Corrective Feedback onIranian EFL Students’ Willingness to Communicate and theirWriting Proficiency

Academic writing is a skill which is learned in an academic setting. Learners need frequent feedback in orderto improve their writing skill. Considering the importance of the writing skill, the present study investigatedthe effect of direct and indirect corrective feedback on Iranian EFL learners’ willingness to communicate andtheir writing proficiency. To this purpose, four intermediate classes from Tehran institute in Khorramabadwere chosen. Sixty participants were randomly selected from these four different classes as the samples,which were all female learners and their ages were between ۱۹-۲۲ years old. The researcher administered theOxford Placement Test (OPT) as the test of language proficiency to make sure that the two groups werehomogenized. The homogenized participants were put in two experimental groups. Then, they were givenWTC questionnaire. Next, they were given a topic each session to write a paragraph of maximum ۱۰۰ words.The first group received direct feedback on the writing skill. Here, the teacher clearly indicated that thestudent's utterance or writing was incorrect and the teacher provided the correct form. In the indirectcorrective feedback group, the teacher indicated that an error existed but did not provide the correction. Atten session both experimental groups were given WTC questionnaire once again. The findings were asfollows: ۱) effectiveness of direct corrective feedback in the WTC of the learners, ۲) effectiveness of theindirect corrective feedback in the WTC of the learners, ۳) effectiveness of the direct corrective feedback inthe composition writing of the learners, ۴) effectiveness of indirect corrective feedback in the compositionwriting of the learners, ۵) superiority of the indirect corrective feedback group over the direct correctivefeedback group in WTC, and ۶) superiority of the direct corrective feedback group in improving theparticipants' composition writing ability over the indirect corrective feedback group. EFL students andteachers can benefit from the findings of this study.

Keywords:

Corrective Feedback , EFL Learners , Willingness to Communicate , Writing Proficiency