Abstract:
This study explored the perceptions of students and lecturers with regard to written
and oral corrective feedback in a first-level English course at the University of
Limpopo. Specifically, the study was designed to establish the views of first entering
students and lecturers around oral and written feedback. This study responds to
widely-held views that students do not pay much attention to feedback, that even if
feedback is provided, some do not know how use feedback systematically to improve
their works, and that some lecturers are not investing sufficiently on provision of
detailed, usable feedback. This study made use of classroom observations, questionnaires and focus group interviews to establish from students’ perceptions about oral and written corrective feedback in their studies and overall attainment of study goals. Furthermore, lecturers were also invited to participate in interviews to ascertain their perception on whether they consider written feedback essential and how it improves the students’ written English grammar. The study uncovered among others that students view oral and written corrective feedback as a tool that improves their grammar in English
challenging long standing views that students are mostly interested in marks obtained
in assessments. Data emerging from this study further suggests that participants view
oral and written feedback as a device that helps students to improve in their usage of
grammar and highlight the need to provide detailed, timely and constructive feedback
in student’s academic work.
