Omani EFL Students' and Their Teachers' Perceptions of Written Corrective Feedback

This study examines the EFL teachers' and students' perceptions of the effectiveness of written corrective feedback (WCF) in the EFL context. The data was collected from 104 male and female students and 11 professors at Sultan Qaboos University in Oman. Two questionnaires, one for students and one for professors, were used to collect quantitative data and some qualitative data. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the quantitative data, and thematic analysis was used to analyze the qualitative data. The participants agree on the provision of selective, mid-focused, rather than comprehensive WCF. They prefer a focus on a group of categories of errors rather than flooding the students with feedback on all types of errors. Unlike previous research, the EFL students and their teachers do not solely prioritize accuracy issues over content-focused feedback. The EFL students affirm that they are not seeking error-free writing but rather effective communication of their ideas. In addition, the students perceive the student-teacher engagement with feedback via discussion as an essential pedagogical practice to maximize their WCF uptake. The study confirms the ecological nature of WCF by calling attention to the methodological variable of oral feedback scaffolding strategies that might affect the effectiveness of WCF but go unnoticed in WCF studies.