Examining secondary school learners’ beliefs about different types of corrective feedback
Examining secondary school learners’ beliefs about different types of corrective feedback

Summary/Abstract: Learners’ beliefs about different aspects of second and foreign language learning and teaching are of crucial importance as they can determine the effectiveness of the in- structional practices employed by teachers. This also applies to corrective feedback (CF) that teachers provide on learners’ errors, both oral and written. While there is copious empirical evidence concerning learners’ beliefs about oral CF, much less is known about students’ perceptions of specific types of written CF. The present paper reports a study that sought to fill this gap. The investigation was part of a larger-scale research project that examined the efficacy of six different types of written CF among 119 Polish secondary school students. Data on beliefs were obtained by means of open-ended queries that participants responded to prior to the treatment and imme- diately after receiving their corrected assignments. The analysis showed that the stu- dents were convinced of the utility of written CF for L2 development. As regards spe- cific types of CF, they showed a clear preference for direct rather than indirect feed- back. The latter was viewed more favorably when it was combined with oral confer- ences. The perceptions of indirect CF accompanied by metalinguistic comments or cor- rection codes hinged on participants’ familiarity with relevant rules and terminology.

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