Feedback on student writing in the Syrian EFL secondary class

Several studies have been done worldwide to examine issues related to providing feedback on student writing in different second language classrooms (e.g. Hyland and Hyland, 2006). Various types of feedback can be implemented, such as teacher feedback (e.g. Hamid, 2007; Ferris and Hedgcock, 2005), peer/group feedback (e.g. Bartels, 2003; Saito and Fujita, 2004; Hyland and Hyland, 2006; Yang et al, 2006; Villamil and De Guerrero, 2006) and self-feedback (Makino, 1993; Ferris, 2002). However, it could be inappropriate or at least questionable to use the same type of Written Feedback (WF) in dissimilar pedagogic and contextual settings. For this reason, mixed methods research (mixed research) was carried out to compare staff and students' perspectives, attitudes, experiences and understanding of issues related to WF in three English as a Foreign Language (EFL) secondary schools in Syria. In particular, this research set out to discover what type of feedback on student writing dominates in the EFL Syrian secondary classroom, the reasons behind such dominance and how these students and staff view implementing types of feedback other than that/those dominant in that classroom. To reach this goal, six types of triangulation were utilised to enhance the validity and reliability of the research outcomes: data source, methodological, respondent, space, analysis and methodology triangulation. This research concludes that teacher feedback (TF) has precedence among other types of WF in the Syrian context and this can be attributed to four main factors that are related to: teachers, students, the current educational system and the social system prevailing at the time of the research. xmEThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo