engleski

Change in feedback practices and its effect on students’ essay-writing skills - an action research

Many vocational high school students take the advanced level of the English language exam within the State Graduation Exam (Matura). To prepare students, essay-writing skills are introduced in the subject English language as early as the first year and continued over the four-year secondary education. However, students continue to show weakness in essay writing skills. The action research of a descriptive character (Markowitz, 2011) presented in this paper focuses on the problem of developing students’ essay writing skills, motivation for better performance and increase of language awareness. The purpose is to analyze the causes of low achievement and develop an action plan based on the findings. It aims to answer the following questions: How do students approach aspects of essay writing? What type of feedback to students’ essays do they find useful and motivating for improving their essays? Will feedback consisting of metalinguistic notes and student-teacher conferencing influence their essay writing skill? The instruments used for collecting data and establishing validity and reliability in the action research were Student Questionnaire, student work in form of essay (with feedback), essay retake (with conferencing), and student evaluation. It is expected that the teacher’s intervention in form of feedback characterized by metalinguistic notes and student-teacher conferences would prove effective in improving students’ essay-writing skills and becoming more reflective in terms of understanding and correcting errors. This will possibly enable vocational school students to become more aware of their knowledge of language, and to gain and maintain writing confidence. Finally, the action research as defined will attempt to contribute to the practice of giving feedback to students’ essays which is not characterized by mere marking of errors. It should be noted, though, that the process is rather time-consuming for teachers.

action research ; assessment, essay-writing, feedback

nije evidentirano