Direct and Indirect Written Corrective Feedback: Lecturers’ Perspectives

This study focuses on addressing the influence that written corrective feedback (WCF) has on English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners. Therefore, this research endeavored to give more clarity on the challenges ahead of EFL lecturers in providing WCF and explored the types of WCF (direct/indirect), as well as the lecturers’ opinions on the effectiveness of each type. For this reason, a qualitative inquiry was used to analyze EFL lecturers’ experiences with providing direct/indirect WCF. To this end, 7 Kurdish EFL lecturers from a public university in Kurdistan Region in Iraq (KRI) voluntarily participated in a semi-structured interview session to answer several open-ended questions. The gathered data was audio-recorded and analyzed through utilizing the Braun and Clarke’s (2006) thematic analysis. The findings highlighted various challenges that Kurdish EFL lecturers face including time constraints, students’ lack of comprehension, different learning styles, paper space limitations, difficulty in balancing quality and quantity, and cultural differences. We also found that students preferred direct feedback due to its simplicity and ease of understanding. However, preference for neither type of feedback was also considered by some lecturers. Importantly, the results of the study revealed that offering excessive feedback may decrease the student’s confidence and ability. Limitations include the need for Kurdish undergraduates’ perspectives and larger quantitative studies to further assess the effectiveness of WCF.