Corrective feedback and writing improvement: the effect of direct and indirect written corrective feedback on EFL learners’ mastery of articles

This quasi-experimental study that examined the effects of direct and indirect CF on Iranian language learners’ writing improvement was conducted over two months on 60 elementary students (23 males, 37 females) with the mean age of 21. The participants were homogenous in terms of language proficiency measured by a Nelson Proficiency Test. The intact classes were assigned into two experimental and one control group classes. Using a pre-test, post-test, delayed post-test design, the students in the groups were first tested on their mastery of articles through a Grammaticality Judgment Task three days before the onset of the treatment and then the students in each experimental group were provided with direct and indirect types of CF on their article errors while the control group only received feedback on the content. Students’ progress was measured in post-tests immediately after the treatment and a delayed post-test three weeks later. Statistical Analysis revealed that CF provision makes a fundamental difference in the knowledge of learners both in the short and long run and also the effect of CF varies depending on the whether it is direct or indirect where direct types of correction can have a greater impact than indirect ones.