A case study of written feedback types and perceptions in a spanish L1 university context

Abstract

This study explores feedback practices in an EFL university programme in Chile. In particular, it seeks to determine what kinds of feedback students receive and their quality. Furthermore, the study also aims at examining the perceptions, beliefs and preferences teachers and students have concerning these practices. To this purpose, naturalistic and artificial data was collected from 34 students from an undergraduate in English language and literature programme of the Universidad de Chile. In addition, teachers’ perceptions and beliefs were assembled by means of open–ended–questions interviews. Students’ perceptions and preferences were taken from digital questionnaires. Results suggest that teachers have no standardized set of techniques when providing feedback. Moreover most of them choose their feedback practices in agreement with the subject-matter they are currently evaluating. Students, consequently, do perceive the lack of standardization in the correction of their written tasks and openly prefer the broad description of their mistakes. The most relevant conclusion regarding student’s role is that there is a correspondence between perceptions and beliefs of students and teachers. However, this match in perceptions does not correspond with what actually happens. Students are aware of the importance of their involvement in the process of corrections but teachers claim that a small percentage of students participate in reality. This issue is explained by three affecting factors: Time, Institutionalization and Students’ Motivation.