Teacher-initiated Learner Self-correction Strategy of Academic Writing: Wollega University in Focus
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Date
2009-05
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
The major objective of this study was to investigate teacher -initiated learner selfcorrecting
ability in written composition of third year EFL students at Wollega
University taking the course Advanced Composition. Specifically, the study aimed
at finding out the extent to which the students can self-correct their written errors,
the strategies they use to process and handle the teacher's written feedback and
revise their texts, areas of ease and difficulty for them to self-correct, and their
general attitude to the technique.
To achieve these objectives, the necessary data were collected through
compos ition writing tasks, student questionnaire and teacher interview. The
students (No. 25) i.e. 100% were made to write four compositions (two original
ve rsions and two self-corrections or revisions). Finally they filled in a
questionnaire and their instructor was interviewed.
The result of the essay writing revealed that the students successfully selfcorrected
their composition errors. That is from a total of 1155 errors recorded prefeedback
on both sessions writing tasks, they managed to significantly reduce
these to 475 errors self-correcting 680 errors or 58.9% of the errors. This implies
that self-correction and rewriting are worthwhile approaches to written error
correction. Moreover, it was revealed that the students attended to most (93%) of
the teacher's comments and suggestions in self-correcting and rewriting.
The result of student questionnaire similarly disclosed that they mostly used
internal resources like reading the feedback over and over and contextual clues to
process and understand the teacher's comments. They also reported having good
initiation and motivation for self-correction and revision. The teacher also noted
that he used teacher correction sometimes, peer correction most frequently and
self correction rarely.
Finally, it was concluded that self-correction is an indispensable means of dealing
with written errors and promoting writing autonomy in EFL classes. However, in
order to deal with or overcome the limitations of the technique, proper training
and conscious-raising on its benefits and procedures are essential for the
students and teachers alike. Teachers are also advised to draw on different
cO/Tection techniques (peer-con·ection, etc), depending on the nature of the
activities and other s ituations, giving self-con·ection the first place in their minds.
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Keywords
Teacher-Initiated Learner, Self-Correction Strategy