Assessing Tanzanian English as a Foreign Language: Teachers and Students’ Preference of Written Corrective Feedback

Abstract

The current study was an assessment of the opinions and preferences of Tanzania English as a foreign language (EFL) students and their teachers with regard to Written Corrective Feedback (WCF). It focused on Respondents feelings on errors, their preference on actors of error correction, immediacy of error correction and social company during error correction and whether there are differences between teachers’ and students’ opinions and preferences. The study involved 20 English language teachers, 10 from public schools and 10 from private secondary schools. Composition of the participants considered gender balance; hence ten females and 10 males were purposively selected. Participants also involved 60 secondary school students from the same schools where the teachers were drawn. Data were gathered through written questionnaire to elicit both teachers and students’ opinions about their perceived preference on actors and correct time for WCF and the social group involved. The resultant data were handled both quantitatively and qualitatively. The findings have revealed that over half of the students and a grand majority of their teachers felt that it is the teacher who ought to correct the errors. Furthermore, the majority of both students and their teachers opined that errors should be corrected every time it is committed and a significant number felt that their errors should be handled by their social group rather than the teachers. It was concluded that, in handling learners’ errors their feelings and perceptions should be taken into account. This can be through classroom observation or carrying out classroom based attitudinal study.