Teachers’ and students’ attitudes toward error correction in L2 writing

Abstract

Comparing student and teacher attitudes toward various aspects of language and instruction including the way writing errors are corrected is a fruitful activity in langage education and SLA classroom research. To contribute to this line of inquiry, the present study investigated the preferences of 30 EFL teachers and 100 L2 students as to various language features as well as error marking techniques in writing. Two questionnaires were developed to elicit views of students and teachers on various error correction techniques in L2 writing. To add a qualitative dimension to the study and to triangulate the findings, nine teachers who took part in the survey study were invited for follow-up interviews. The results revealed that there are noticeable differences in the preferences and attitudes of teachers and students toward issues related to marking writing papers. Furthermore, not only were differences observed between students and teachers in terms of their preferences and attitudes, but there was also disagreement between teachers themselves and among students as to the most appropriate error correction techniques. Further results and implications of the study are discussed in the paper.