The effect of written corrective feedback on Low- and High-Proficiency Iranian EFL learners writing accuracy

Written corrective feedback can give information on different kinds of errors such as grammatical and lexical errors; hence, it prevents the repetition of errors in the learner s text (Storech and Wigglesworth, 2010). Although different studies have addressed the effects of written corrective feedback (WCF) on students writing accuracy, few studies have addressed its effects on high-and low-proficiency EFL learners writing accuracy. T o this end, the current research investigated the effect of WCF on high-proficiency and low-proficiency Iranian EFL learners writing accuracy. The participants of this study consisted of 60 EFL intermediate and advanced male learners studying English at the Homa English Language Institution located in Shahr-e-Qods, Tehran, Iran. The participants were equally divided into 4 groups, namely two experimental groups and two control groups, each including 15 students. The participants in the experimental groups received coded feedback on their errors regarding their essays. However, the participants in the control group did not receive any feedback on their errors. The data of the present study were collected through pre-test, post-test, and delayed post-test. As far as the data analysis is concerned, SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) software and various statistical measures including Leven s test, ANCOVA and t-test, were applied. The result showed a significant difference between the writing accuracy of experimental groups and the control groups. Nonetheless, the findings showed that there was no significant difference between the effects of written corrective feedback on the writing accuracy of high-and low-proficiency learners in the two experimental groups. This study, also, provides pedagogical implications concerning to the utilization of WCF in EFL learning and teaching as an effective tool.

Keywords:

written corrective feedback , writing accuracy , high-proficiency learners , low-proficiency learners