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Students’ Perceptions on the Use and Efficacy of Error Correction Symbols on Written Drafts: A Study at UTAS-Ibra Oman

Abstract

Writing is one of the most difficult skills in EFL classes for rural and urban students alike.  Feedback on written drafts is one of the methods English teachers adopt to improve students’ writing skills.  Hence it is important to study to what extent students benefit from teacher feedback on their written drafts. The research studies by Huntley (1992) and Truscott (1996) regarding surface level error corrections pointed out the ineffectiveness of indicating errors and corrections on students’ written drafts. They further advocated abandoning surface level error corrections altogether in L2 writing classes so as to avoid harmful effects.  Following this, many research studies were conducted in this area.  The findings of these studies, however, proved that giving feedback directly on students’ written drafts in EFL classes is actually effective. Against this backdrop, the present study adopts a quantitative research design to examine students’ perceptions on the use and efficacy of error correction symbols on students’ written drafts.   A structured questionnaire was distributed to students (N=396) via Moodle LMS to collect data. The study participants were General Foundation Program Students at the English Language Centre of the University of Technology and Applied Sciences-Ibra, Sultanate of Oman.  The findings of this study suggest that the students found the use of error correction symbols on their written drafts effective and helpful in improving their writing accuracy

Keywords: accuracy, efficacy, error correction, feedback, students, writing