Browsing by Author "Gebru, Amanuel (Ass. Prof)"

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    Students' Perception and the Significance of Feedback in the Writing Class: A Case Study of Bole Senior and Preparatory School
    (Addis Ababa University, 2009-06) Abebe, Mekonnen; Gebru, Amanuel (Ass. Prof)
    The main purpose of the study was to explore students' perception and significance of feedback in the writing class. The specific objectives were to: a) investigate factors responsible in affecting students' perception of the significance of feedback on their writing. b) examine how students handle the feedback they receive and the strategies they use to apply to their subsequent writings. c) asses if students have problems in interpreting the teacher's responses, and d) examine whether or not teachers encourage their learners to act onl reinforce the comments provided. In order to achieve the above objectives, data was collected using questionnaire and collected data was verified using interviews. Out of the total population of grade 11 students of the Bole Senior Secondary and Preparatory School, 114 (12%) students were taken to be subjects of the study. The interview of those 30 students was audio recorded and transcription was done later. The result of the study revealed that students feel that the feedback is useful and it helps them improve their writing, to be aware of their mistakes, identify their errors, and correct their weak points. Regarding students' strategies of handling teachers' comments, it was found that students reread their essays to refresh their memories enough to give the teacher's comments a meaningful context for interpretation and give considerable attention to it when they get their paper back. It was also found that students have difficulties in understanding teachers' feedback out of which comments provided in the form of phrases are the most common ones. Besides, the data analysis and discussions showed that students are encouraged to incorporate the comments provided in various ways such as class work and home work writing tasks, and in the essay examinations. On the basis of the findings, it was recommended that teachers should be able to provide adequate, clear and easily understandable feedbacks so as to enable students to use it appropriately and convey the intended message.
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    Teachers' Practices and Students' Preferences for Written Feedback: Debre Birhan University in Focus
    (Addis Ababa University, 2009-06) Mohammed, Maru; Gebru, Amanuel (Ass. Prof)
    The purpose of this study was to investigate the teachers ' written feedb ack practice and students' preferences and the reasons behind their practices and preferences. Specifically it was aimed at finding out: (1) What teachers' written feedback practices are, (2) the reasons bifhind their written feedback practices, (3) students' preferences for this feedback and reasons for their preferences, (4) the discrepancies between teacher written feedback practices and students' preferences (5) the students' feelings about and responses to teachers' written feedback. In order to achieve these aims, feedback analysis of 75 marked papers collected from 5 instructors of Sophomore English at DBU were compared with: (1) teachers' reported practice from a questionnaire survey and a follow up interview with all of them (2) data found from questionnaire administered to 80 students (who were randomly selected from 12 section of four departments) which probed their preferences and reasons for their preferences (3) an interview data with 15 of students , which revealed their feelings about and responses to written feedback. The re sults show that there were mismatches not only between what teachers reported and what they actually provided but also between teachers ' actual feedback practice and ,students' preferences. Teachers provided feedback after students had comp leted their work, ,w,',ile over half (56.25%) students preferred to get this feedback in the earlier drafts and after the final ones. Feedback analysis indicated that teachers focused on form (86.7%) than on organization (3 .07%) and content (3.42%) which met students' preferences. But over 60% the students wanted more feedback on each area . The study also revealed that on average te ac hers mostly employed direct correction (64.27%) employing the techniques 'adding ', 'deleting', 's ubstitution ' land indirect correction using 'underline '! 'circle' technique (34.42%), which mismatched students' preferences as they preferred direct correction over indirect correction. In spite of instru cto rs' error focused feedback, negative comments and criticism, students seemed to be generally positive about teachers ' written feedback. Most teachers rarely discussed their feedback behavior for the students. Finally, based on the findings, discussions and conclusions the researcher suggested the need to : take into account leamers ' preferences in written feedback, employ a range of indirect error fe edback strategies, focus on global aspects of students' writing, give p'raise and criticism side by side, encourage students to write multiple drajis, and intervene in the students ' writing process.