A Qualitative Study into How Non-English Major Students Emotionally Respond to Teacher-Written Feedback
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.54855/ijte.24434Keywords:
emotion, feedback, non-English major students, learningAbstract
Despite extant literature on the interplay between pedagogical practices and emotional impact, the emotional responses of non-English major undergraduates to teacher-written feedback in L2 writing classrooms remain underexplored. This research, employing semi-structured interviews and document analysis as primary data collection tools, aims to explore how different functions of feedback, including praise, criticism, and suggestions, evoke students’ emotions in higher education settings. The study, conducted in the context of a single university's L2 writing courses, involved 88 undergraduates for document analysis and 5 for semi-structured interviews. Findings reveal that personalized feedback significantly impacts students' self-perception, learning motivation, and engagement, underscoring the importance of empathy and clarity in feedback delivery. This paper highlights tailored feedback's crucial role in enhancing academic growth and emotional well-being, contributing to a more nuanced understanding of feedback dynamics in language education.
References
Agbayahoun, J. P. (2016). Teacher-Written Feedback on Student Writing: Teachers’ and Learners’ Perspectives. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 6(10), 1895–1904. https://doi.org/10.17507/tpls.0610.01
Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2021). Thematic Analysis: A Practical Guide (1st ed.). SAGE Publications Ltd.
Carless, D., & Boud, D. (2018). The Development of Student Feedback Literacy: Enabling Uptake of Feedback. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 43(8), 1315–1325. https://doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2018.1463354
Connors, R. J., & Lunsford, A. A. (1993). Teachers’ Rhetorical Comments on Student Papers. College Composition and Communication, 44(2), 200–223. https://doi.org/10.2307/358839
Dochy, F., Segers, M., & Arikan, S. (2023). Dialogic Feedback for High Impact Learning - Key to PCP-Coaching and Assessment-as-Learning (1st ed.). Routledge.
Ferris, D. (2018). “They Said I Have a Lot to Learn”: How Teacher Feedback Influences Advanced University Students’ Views of Writing. Journal of Response to Writing, 4(2), 4–33. https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/journalrw/vol4/iss2/2
Gan, Z., An, Z., & Liu, F. (2021). Teacher Feedback Practices, Student Feedback Motivation, and Feedback Behavior: How are They Associated with Learning Outcomes? Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 1–14. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.697045
Han, Y., & Hyland, F. (2019). Academic Emotions in Written Corrective Feedback Situations. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 38, 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeap.2018.12.003
Hill, J., Berlin, K., Choate, J., Cravens-Brown, L., McKendrick-Calder, L., & Smith, S. (2021). Exploring the Emotional Responses of Undergraduate Students to Assessment Feedback: Implications for Instructors. Teaching & Learning Inquiry: The ISSOTL Journal, 9(1), 294–316. https://doi.org/10.20343/teachlearninqu.9.1.20
Hyland, F., & Hyland, K. (2001). Sugaring the Pill - Praise and Criticism in Written Feedback. Journal of Second Language Writing, 10(3), 185–212. https://doi.org/10.1016/s1060-3743(01)00038-8
Hyland, K., & Hyland, F. (2006). Feedback on Second Language Students’ Writing. Language Teaching, 39(2), 83–101. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0261444806003399
Hyland, K. (2013). Faculty Feedback: Perceptions and Practices in L2 Disciplinary Writing. Journal of Second Language Writing, 22(3), 240–253. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jslw.2013.03.003
Hyland, K. (2019). Second Language Writing (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press.
Hyland, K., & Hyland, F. (2019). Contexts and Issues in Feedback on L2 Writing. In K. Hyland & F. Hyland (Eds.), Feedback in Second Language Writing: Contexts and Issues (2nd ed., pp. 1-22). Cambridge University Press.
Le, H. T. Q., & Nguyen, T. H. (2022). A Study on Non-English Major Students’ Learner Autonomy: Difficulties and Solutions. International Journal of TESOL & Education, 2(3), 197–207. https://doi.org/10.54855/ijte.222313
Lee, I. (2008). Understanding Teachers’ Written Feedback Practices in Hong Kong Secondary Classrooms. Journal of Second Language Writing, 17(2), 69–85. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jslw.2007.10.001
Lee, I. (2014). Revisiting Teacher Feedback in EFL Writing from Sociocultural Perspectives. TESOL Quarterly, 48(1), 201–213. https://doi.org/10.1002/tesq.153
Leng, K. T. P. (2014). An Analysis of Written Feedback on ESL Students’ Writing. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 123, 389–397. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2014.01.1437
Lewis-Beck, M. S., Bryman, A., & Liao, T. F. (2004). The SAGE Encyclopedia of Social Science Research Methods (1st ed.). Sage Publications, Inc.
Mahfoodh, O. H. A. (2017). “I feel disappointed”: EFL University Students’ Emotional Responses towards Teacher-Written Feedback. Assessing Writing, 31, 53–72. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.asw.2016.07.001
Nguyen, N. L. T., Nguyen, B. T. T., & Hoang, G. T. L. (2021). Students’ Perceptions of Teachers’ Written Feedback on EFL Writing in a Vietnamese Tertiary Context. Language Related Research, 12(5).
Nguyen, T. P. U., & Nguyen, P. T. U. (2022). Pre-Service teacher performance and High-School student uptake of oral corrective feedback in EFL classes in Da Nang. International Journal of TESOL & Education, 2(2), 119–141. https://doi.org/10.54855/ijte.22227
Pilotti, M., Waked, A., Alaoui, K. E., De Kort, S., & El-Moussa, O. J. (2023). The Emotional State of Second-Language Learners in a Research Writing Course: Do Academic Orientation and Major Matter? Behavioral Sciences, 13(11), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.3390/bs13110919
Razali, R., & Jupri, R. (2014). Exploring Teacher-Written Feedback and Student Revisions on ESL Students’ Writing. IOSR Journal of Humanities and Social Science, 19(5), 63–70. https://doi.org/10.9790/0837-19556370
Richards, J. C. (2020). Exploring Emotions in Language Teaching. RELC Journal, 53(1), 225–239. https://doi.org/10.1177/0033688220927531
Rothermund, K., & Koole, S. L. (2018). Three Decades of Cognition & Emotion: A Brief Review of Past Highlights and Future Prospects. Cognition and Emotion, 32(1), 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699931.2018.1418197
Ryan, T., & Henderson, M. (2017). Feeling Feedback: Students’ Emotional Responses to Educator Feedback. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 43(6), 880–892. https://doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2017.1416456
Silver, R., & Lee, S. (2007). What Does It Take to Make a Change? Teacher Feedback and Student Revisions. English Teaching: Practice and Critique, 6(1), 25–49.
Silverman, D. (2022). Doing Qualitative Research (6th ed.). SAGE Publications Ltd.
Swain, M. (2013). The Inseparability of Cognition and Emotion in Second Language Learning. Language Teaching, 46(2), 195–207. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0261444811000486
Värlander, S. (2008). The Role of Students’ Emotions in Formal Feedback Situations. Teaching in Higher Education, 13(2), 145–156. https://doi.org/10.1080/13562510801923195
White, C. (2018). The Emotional Turn in Applied Linguistics and TESOL: Significance, Challenges and Prospects. In Springer eBooks (pp. 19–34). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-75438-3_2
Wu, C., Zhang, J., & Yuan, Z. (2019). An ERP Investigation on the Second Language and Emotion Perception: The Role of Emotion Word Type. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 25(2), 539–551. https://doi.org/10.1080/13670050.2019.1703895
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2024 Dinh Anh Duc, Pham Nguyen Minh Chau
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
The copyright of all articles published in the International Journal of TESOL & Education (ijte) remains with the Authors, i.e. Authors retain full ownership of their article. Permitted third-party reuse of the open access articles is defined by the applicable Creative Commons (CC) end-user license which is accepted by the Authors upon submission of their paper. All articles in the ijte are published under the CC BY-NC 4.0 license, meaning that end users can freely share an article (i.e. copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format) and adapt it (i.e. remix, transform and build upon the material) on the condition that proper attribution is given (i.e. appropriate credit, a link to the applicable license and an indication if any changes were made; all in such a way that does not suggest that the licensor endorses the user or the use) and the material is only used for non-commercial purposes.
Authors retain copyright and grant the journal the right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgment of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository, in a journal or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgment of its initial publication in this journal.
