THE EFFECTS OF USING EMAIL ATTACHMENT AS A TOOL

FOR OFFERING TEACHER FEEDBACK ON LEARNERS' WRITING SKILLS

SAMIRA YADOLLAHI KAKH

UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MALAYSIA

ii

iii

“I hereby declare that I have read this project report and in

my opinion this project report is sufficient in terms of scope and

quality for the award of the degree of Master of Education

(Teaching English as a Second Language)”

iv

THE EFFECTS OF USING EMAIL ATTACHMENT AS A TOOL FOR OFFERING

TEACHER FEEDBACK ON LEARNERS' WRITING SKILLS

SAMIRA YADOLLAHI KAKH

A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the

requirements for the award of the degree of

Master of Education in ''Teaching English as a Second Language"

Faculty of Education

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia

October 2010

ii

I declare that this thesis entitled "The Effects of Using Email Attachment as a Tool for

Offering Teacher Feedback on Learners' Writing Skills" is the result of my own research

except as cited in the references. The thesis has not been accepted for any degree and is not

concurrently submitted in candidature of any other degree.

Signature:

Name: Samira Yadollahi Kakh

Date: October 2010

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I dedicate this thesis in honor of my late

English teacher Mr Koorosh Shahriyari who taught me

"to think" rather than "how to think".

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AKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Above all, I want to thank God for getting me through life these past two

years. I would like to thank my parents who not only tolerated my absence, but also

supported me while I was away from home.

Additionally, I would like to thank my esteemed supervisor, Associate

Professor Dr Wan Fara Adlina Wan Mansor for her help, and feedback. I am greatly

indebted to her, because this study could never have been completed without her astute

guidance and moral encouragement.

Furthermore, I like to express my heartfelt thanks to Roohollah for his

undying help, and encouragement.

With love and gratitude,

Samira Yadollahi Kakh

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Abstract

This study aimed at investigating the effects of using email attachment as a tool

for offering teacher feedback on writing skills of four high intermediate Iranian English

learners who are the applicants for higher education in Universiti Teknologi Malaysia

(UTM). Therefore, the following objectives were set to outline what should be achieved

as a result of conducting this research: i) to investigate whether offering teacher

feedback through email attachment develops or improves learners' writing skills, ii) to

identify the learners' perception and attitudes toward receiving teacher feedback on

writing drafts through email attachment, and iii) to identify the suitable types of teacher

feedback on different kinds of errors which contribute to better quality drafts. Data were

collected through these research methods and instruments: First through participant

observation, which the teacher-researcher of the study observed closely how participants

reacted to the feedback. Second the teacher reflected on the types of errors learners

made, the efficiency of given feedback, and how the respondents' writing skills

developed over time. Third, the students' were guided to write reflective diaries. The

participants reflected on their experience in participating in the writing course. Fourth,

three structured email interviews were implemented and questions were emailed to each

participant during the six weeks. Learners had to answer some questions that focused

mainly into the use of email attachment for delivering feedback. Unordered meta-

matrix, site-ordered effects matrix, and time-ordered meta-matrix were used to classify,

categorize, and cluster the data gained from the instruments. The results of the study

show that making use of email attachment as a means of delivering feedback accelerates

the process of writing, motivates the learners to revise writing drafts more frequently,

and enhances frequent communication between teacher and students which reduces the

affective filter and improves confidence. The findings also show that there is no single

type of feedback that can help the students to produce quality drafts. Hence, teacher

feedback is effective when tailored to errors and learners.

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Abstrak

Kajian ini bertujuan mengkaji kesan penggunaan lampiran e-mel sebagai

perantara maklumbalas guru berhubung kemahiran menulis empat pelajar Iran yang

mempunyai tahap sederhana tinggi Bahasa Inggeris yang juga merupakan pemohon

untuk pendidikan tinggi di Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM). Oleh itu, objektif-

objektif berikut telah dirancang untuk i) mengkaji samada maklumbalas guru melalui

lampiran e-mel mampu meningkatkan kemahiran penulisan pelajar, ii) mengenalpasti

persepsi pelajar dan sikap pelajar terhadap maklumbalas guru ke atas deraf penulisan

yang diterima melalui lampiran e-mel dan iii) mengenalpasti kesesuaian jenis-jenis

maklumbalas guru terhadap kesalahan dalam membaiki kualiti deraf penulisan pelajar.

Data telah dikumpulkan melalui metodologi kajian dan instrument berikut: Pertama,

melalui „participant-observation‟ yang mana „teacher-researcher‟ atau guru-penyelidik

membuat pemerhatian keatas tindakbalas pelajar terhadap maklumbalas guru. Kedua,

guru-penyelidik membuat refleksi yang mana kebanyakannya mengenai jenis kesilapan

yang dibuat pelajar, kecekapan maklumbalas yang diberikan, dan bagaimana kemahiran

penulisan responden berkembang dari semasa ke semasa guru terhadap kesalahan

penulisan, efisiensi maklumbalas yang diberi, dan bagaimana kemahiran penulisan

pelajar meningkat dalam masa tersebut. Ketiga, diari reflektif pelajar yang mana para

peserta dibimbing dalam merefleksikan pengalaman mereka ketika kursus penulisan.

Keempat, tiga temubual berstruktur dibuat iaitu soalan dihantar melalui e-mel kepada

setiap peserta selama enam minggu tersebut. Pelajar perlu menjawab beberapa soalan

yang berfokuskan kepada penggunaan lampiran e-mel sebagai perantara maklumbalas.

Tidak berturutan meta-matriks, laman berturutan kesan matriks, dan masa berturutan

meta-matriks digunakan untuk menklasifikasi, menkategori dan menghimpunkan data

yang diperolehi dari semua instrumen. Hasil kajian menunjukkan bahawa penggunaan

lampiran e-mel sebagai perantara penghantaran maklumbalas mempercepatkan proses

penulisan, memotivasikan pelajar untuk menyemak semula draf penulisan dengan lebih

kerap, dan meningkatkan kekerapan komunikasi di antara guru dan pelajar yang mana

ianya mengurangkan penapisan afektif pelajar dan meningkatkan keyakinan diri.

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viii

ix

x

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LIST OF TABLES

PAGE

TITLE TABLE NO.

51 The Relationship between Research Questions and Data Collection

Instruments.

3.1

58 The Relationships between RQs, Instruments, and Data Analysis

methods

3.2

61 Participants' Comments and Questions Unordered Meta- Matrix

4.1

63 Time-ordered Meta-Matrix that Shows the Focus of Teacher

Feedback on Content

4.2

65 Time-ordered Meta-Matrix That Presents the Feedback on Form

4.3

75 Unordered Meta-Matrix that Shows Writing Problems Experienced

by Participants before This Study

4.4

79 Site-Ordered Effect Matrix: The Relationship between Using Email

Attachment as a Tool for Offering Teacher Feedback and the

Positive Attitude of the Participants

4.5

85 Unordered Meta-Matrix: The Importance of Teacher Feedback

While Writing in English

4.6

87 Unordered Meta-Matrix: Participants' Ideas about the Outstanding

Characteristics of Using Email Attachment

4.7

89 The Cross Verification of the Collected Data 4.8

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LIST OF FIGURES

FIGURE NO. TITLE PAGE

1.1 A Brief Illustration of Statement of the Problems

7

1.2 Conceptual Framework of the Study

10

3.1 Research Design

41

3.2 The Contents of The First Email

53

3.3 Procedure of Email Communication Between the Learners and

The Instructor

55

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

Abbreviation Expression

CALL - Computer Assisted Language Learning

CMC - Computer-Mediated Communication

ELT - English Language Teaching

F-2-F - Face to Face

FL - Foreign Language

L1 - First Language

L2 - Second Language

MW - Microsoft Word

UTM - UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MALAYSIA

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LIST OF APPENDICES

APPENDIX TITLE PAGE

A Correction Charts (McMahan & Day, 1988) 114

B Nesamalar Chitravelu's (1995) Marking Code Table 116

C Improved Correction Chart for Offering Coded Feedback 117

D Assessment Scale for Written Work 121

E Introductory Email 123

F Structured Email Interview No#1 124

G Structured Email Interview No#2 125

H Structured Email Interview No#3 126

I A Complete Process of Doing a Writing Task 127

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Introduction

Perhaps musing on the difficulties of mastering the writing skill is the most

common grumble that can be heard from learners in the process of learning English

as a second language. Many people describe their attempts at writing as "failure",

and many others complain writing in English is hardly easy or spontaneous for them

because normally they have enough ideas to write, but not enough control of the

language system to express what they want to convey comprehensively and

academically satisfactory. In short, students generally have great difficulty

becoming confident English writers.

Writing is detached from a wide range of expressing possibilities in speech

such as inability to exploit pitch and tone of voice, stress, and body movements.

Moreover, “error treatment” which is one of the key issues in second language

teaching can be offered to the learners‟ errors while speaking by instructors or even

their peers in the form of synchronous feedback to repair breakdowns in

communication (Ferris, 2001). During these interpersonal activities that arise

throughout face-to-face (f2f) communication learners can clarify and revise ideas

whenever they face clarification requests. This particular kind of interaction which

has become known as the „negotiation of meaning‟ concerns the conversational

exchanges that arise when the two parties in a conversation try to prevent or remedy

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a communicative impasse (Ellis, 1999). Whereas, when it comes to writing, learners

have to compensate for the unavailability of all these advantages.

In addition, for many of the learners, the inability to adjust the balance

between meaning, process, and form in writing is daunting. Poor handwriting,

grammar, punctuation, and spelling difficulties, as well as poor organization of the

ideas are the most common roadblocks that the students may face when they write in

English.

Nevertheless, students have to master the difficulties of learning to write in

English for ample reasons such as pedagogical and academic purposes. To

accomplish that, teachers are responsible for designing writing activities to provide

appropriate instructional adaptations and accommodations. These activities should

reflect the ultimate goal of enabling learners to write whole texts which form

connected, contextualized, and appropriate pieces of communication (Hedge, 2005).

Deliberately forgetting about the controversy over how to teach writing, and

the effectiveness of different kinds of writing error treatment (Kepner, 1991;

Truscott, 1999; Ferris, 1999), there would be absolutely inevitable global problems

in language teaching classrooms such as lack of sufficient time to support learners

individually (Jackson & Matthews, 1996), having a diversity of reluctant and

motivated learners in a classroom, and also a combination of students with different

goals, needs and level of proficiency, which may influence the decisions of teachers

about the implementation of writing activities.

In recent years, these global factors affect language teachers‟ use of

computers in classroom settings as useful teaching tools that can improve ways of

teaching by offering students a variety of language inputs and expand their learning

experience in a learner-centered environment (Park & Son, 2009). Alongside, the

present study intends to examine the effects of using email attachment as a tool for

offering teacher feedback on learners' writing skills.

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In this chapter, the background and purpose of the study are justified. Also

specific statement of problems, objectives of the study, research questions,

significance of the study, theoretical framework, and operational definitions of terms

are covered.

1.2 Background of the study

Adult English learners may have many reasons for wanting to write in

English. They may need to write to carry out functional tasks such as filling out

forms, taking a message, or writing email messages. Educated ones may need to

acquire writing skills to apply for overseas international universities, to succeed in

academic studies, or to advance in a job. Thus, it seems that offering the same

writing instruction to all students does not fulfill their goals completely. In addition,

for many learners practice writing enhances their language acquisition. In fact, when

learners put their thoughts on paper and share them with others, they practice and

activate the language structures and vocabularies they are learning in the classroom,

but limited classroom time does not allow them to experience this precious chance

often. Moreover, students are always in need of motivation and suitable environment

to relish doing writing tasks regularly. So, it looks like teachers can make use of

students‟ needs and expectations to contribute to a model of individualized,

supportive instruction to keep the students motivated in order to practice.

Effective teaching demands teachers to make distinctions between students

who want to be corrected; those with low self-esteem who need to build confidence

before being exposed to corrective feedback, and talented students who need a

slighted assistance to come up with a precise writing production. Such knowledge

about the demands of students would help teachers to design outside-of-classroom

supplementary activities.

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Providing appropriate assistance or outside-the-classroom supplementary

activities to different students may be good reasons for the teachers to get involved in

technology-enhanced language teaching. Computer technology offers teachers

immense possibilities in delivering the instruction. Moreover, the role and kind of

technology, the goal of activities, and the amount and form of support offered by the

teachers all can be determined by the specific goals and needs of the learners.

However, in addition to having the knowledge of linguistics, teachers require to

know some basic knowledge about what new technologies offer and how they can set

up and manage a new learning environment.

Although it is better for the teachers to keep up with the rapid development of

technologies to be able to select a suitable and innovative one to make use of it in

ELT classes, some simple and popular technologies such as email system which does

not need something more than basic knowledge about computer and internet can

greatly make change in language instruction. The basic skills that the teacher and the

learners required to be familiar with are:

a word processing program such as Microsoft Word (MW)

how to access the internet and web mail

how to attach (upload) and download files

According to Waite et al. (2003) interaction and feedback are the two

essential components of the process teaching and learning which can improve the

success of learning. Exchanging emails between teachers and learners is a useful

medium to share ideas and reflections as well as asking and offering feedback and

help. This simple technology can facilitate learners‟ writing practice outside the

classroom. Word processors allow the teachers to correct, edit, and provide feedback

on the learners‟ digitally submitted work. The writing which is typed in a word

processor document can be easily manipulated, saved, copied, shared, and stored.

The integration of e-learning environment and technology into traditional

ways of teaching and learning, affects the teacher-learner relationship. Establishing

supportive and caring relationships is important to students‟ success, and this process

is generally easier when communication is both positive and encouraging (Reisman,

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1984). Similarly, email communication enables learners to interact with the teacher

when the limited instruction time does not allow f2f communication. However, as it

is discussed later on this online interaction between teacher and the students prepare

the students to become less dependent on teachers (Rozgiene, Medvedeva, &

Strakova, 2008).

Email is a very useful tool for getting in touch with the learners. It can bring

different benefits to different learners. It can be used to replace some f2f time with

learners, because the growing student numbers, widening participation, and

overloaded materials with ample tasks do not let the teachers to provide sufficient

support for the students during the classroom time. In fact, the role of the teacher as

a facilitator, guide, and even consultant remains fundamental during online learning

process. Especially in the initial stages of being exposed to these kinds of courses,

students may need a clear guidance and feedback to be able to carry out the activities

and get used to them.

The learners can access the activities, feedback or guidance at their own

paces and time which address their respective needs and attitudes. Instructing via

email may have the potential to fulfill the individual expectations or needs of the

learners with different motivation and commitment. This individualized learning

support which offers a practical, pragmatic, awareness-raising source enhances

students‟ independent learning, as well as self-study (Race, 2005). This kind of

instruction provides the students the chance to design their individual study plan and

to select appropriate aims and tools to reach them.

1.3 Statement of the Problem

Since teaching students how to communicate effectively and accurately is the

major goal of the majority of English courses, writing is often slighted in language

classes. This ignorance can be seen more obviously in countries such as Iran in

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which English is not the medium of written communication in office affairs, and

where educational systems do not ask students to learn academic English writing as

well. Thus, when the need to learn this skill is not there, learners hardly get

motivated to relish learning it. In fact, the tendency to give the oral skills major

attention, and consider writing less important and useful among the four language

skills may lead to the conclusion that writing can be sacrificed to spend more time on

the other three skills (Chastain, 1988).

However, people are usually not considered fully educated in a language

unless they know how to write in that language (Chastain, 1988), and a great number

of students who are eager to continue their education overseas need to acquire

academic writing skill in a short time to fulfill the requirements of the target

universities which they want to apply for. In fact, lack of writing proficiency in

English is one of the major difficulties faced by the students who are eager to

continue their education overseas. In this case, students need to acquire the

knowledge of the target language system as well as the skills to express their ideas.

In other words, writing activities should emphasize on writing to communicate, and

in the same way to focus on the language itself to enhance conveyance of meaning.

As Spack (1984) says during writing instruction students should acquire the facility

to manipulate the grammatical forms accurately and also consider the readers and the

effect they want to achieve. Learners cannot achieve these goals unless they have

sufficient control of the writing system and the grammar to be understood.

Nevertheless, the ability to have control of the writing system and grammar

cannot naturally be acquired. There is a belief that in order to gain proficiency in

writing, students need to practice a lot. In fact, practice is the most effective and

viable way for students which lead to successful pieces of written works, and

improved writing skills (Hedge, 2005). Zamel (1983) states that "by doing research

on what learners do in the process of writing, we can learn what they still need to be

taught". Therefore, using process writing as suggested by Flower and Hayes (1981a)

may help the learners to understand better the process of writing, as well as consider

feedback from the teacher which is crucial to improve writing skills.

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Errors are the inevitable part of language learning, and errors in learners'

writings are not exceptions to this. Error-treatment apart from choosing which

technique (teacher editing, self editing, peer editing) is a time consuming process.

This definite characteristic makes it rather difficult for the teachers to apply error-

treatment in ELT classrooms where there is always lack of time to fulfill the

requirements of the syllabus.

In addition to lack of time, some of the issues raised are lack of students'

confidence in writing in English, and the way the teacher actually delivers the

feedback and treatment. In other words, practice writing even in the first language

(L1) involves some risk-taking, thus it is important for students to be confident risk-

takers. Appreciating the learners' efforts and valuing the message they are trying to

express over the form and grammar by teachers are significant in this regard

(Hoch,?). That is, students‟ feelings should be taken into consideration, in a sense

that students‟ self-concept and belonging needs should be avoided to sacrifice

(Stevick, 1976) in favor of linguistic correctness.

More importantly, when it comes to insufficient class time which may reduce

the students‟ chance to experience a supportive learning environment of the

classroom (Jackson & Matthews, 1996); many teachers decide to assign homework

devoted to writing. Doing writing tasks at home would give this opportunity to the

students to work at their own pace, and support can be offered to the learners in the

form of written feedback later on. Although encouraging the students to write in

English outside the classroom is a worthwhile activity as it gives the students to

practice and develop their competence and confidence, the delay between doing the

task and receiving the feedback may reduce the efficiency of it.

Considering what has been said, the three major pedagogical areas in

teaching writing which are: i) teaching writing can be consistent with the students‟

needs and goals if it is done in a way to give the students on time error feedback

(Khitam et al., 2009), ii) supporting students affectively (emotionally) is as

important as correcting them cognitively (Newmark and Reibel, 1968), and iii) lack

of enough time in integrated English teaching programs to fulfill all the necessary

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requirements and particulars in teaching writing, provide a background for doing the

present study to foster supplementary writing activities by contemplating the

mentioned issues. Figure 1.1 shows briefly the issues presented in statement of the

problem.

Figure 1.1 A Brief Illustration of Statement of the Problems

1.4 Objectives of the Study

This study is carried out to meet the following objectives:

(1) To investigate whether offering teacher feedback through email

attachment develops or improves learners' writing skills.

(2) To identify the learners' perception and attitudes toward receiving teacher

feedback on writing drafts through email attachment.

(3) To identify the suitable types of teacher feedback on different kinds of

errors which contribute to better quality drafts.

1.5 Research Questions

Based on the objectives, this study asks the following questions:

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(1) In what ways does the use of email attachment for offering teacher

feedback on learners' drafts develop or improve learners' writing skills?

(2) What are the learners' perception and attitudes toward receiving teacher

feedback on writing drafts through email attachment?

(3) What type of teacher feedback on each kind of error contributes to better

quality drafts?

1.6 Significance of the Study

The current study aimed to foster English Learners' writing skills by using

email attachment as a tool for offering contribution and feedback on learners'

sequential writing drafts. It was also one of the main goals of the study to promote

students' attitude toward learning to write in English by developing a writing

platform where they can be enthusiastic and confident about writing, and can leave

the writing course as confident academic writers in English.

It was hoped that the findings of this study later on would allow the students

to learn more about being independent in their attempts to write in English, where

they become more aware of their audience and the mistakes they make in their

writing. From the writing teachers‟ point of view, providing feedback -which is

delivered as email attachments during the process of writing a composition- for

specific students who are in need of help, could be an alternative activity that can be

done outside of classroom. Apart from that, such facilitation could provide the

students with sufficient attention, support and feedback that teachers could rarely

provide if this is done in the classroom.

More particularly, the findings of this study can be used as a framework to

design and plan individualized online writing courses for students with special

demands. Such writing instruction is especially efficient for the learners who are too

busy to attend language classes; disabled learners that their special body situations

hinder their presence in face to face classrooms, and those who have to acquire

English writing skills in a limited time.

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1.7 Scope of the Study

This study focuses on the improvement of the participants' writing skills

through a process-writing approach. The improvement of their error awareness and

their reaction and perception toward receiving feedback on writing drafts as email

attachments are the other concerns of this study.

In this regard, four high Intermediate English learners were chosen as the

participants of the study. These English learners were Iranian applicants for higher

education in Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM). In choosing these students, their

needs to learn academic writing in English and their desire to participate in the study

were taken into consideration.

1.8 Theoretical Framework

Theoretical framework of the study tries to demonstrate the basis of

conducting this research by identifying the elements of literature review in order to

attain the objectives of the study. Figure 1.2 shows the conceptual relationship

between the factors that may influence the students‟ writing skills in English. It

provides a schematic description that shows on-time supportive guidance, types of

feedback that the teacher offers to the learners, and students' needs and goals –which

can affect students' writing skills in English- should be taken into account when

planning process writing as an instructional approach.

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Summary of Findings

Global technology developments have changed many aspects of teaching and

learning in educational systems. The effect of technology on students and teachers

interaction is one of the features of these changes. Email undoubtedly, is one of the

most handy and user-friendly systems that can facilitate the communication between

students and teachers. Email not only provides fast and cheap communication, but

also encourages informal communication (Shanmuganathan, 2003).

In ELT environments email can advance or even change traditional writing

instruction. Using email as a tool for delivering instruction needs the students to use

a word processor, especially when they are asked to send their drafts as text

attachments. While email automatically records and archives all the files, word

processors such as MW, accelerate the process of writing by making easy the acts of

deleting, editing, and replacing. MW also helps the teachers and the students to

review the drafts by Track Changes. Track Changes allow users to edit or comment

on text in an organized and noticeable way.

Teacher feedback is a vital aspect of writing instruction and highly essential

to ensure the success of an online course. While email makes the writing instructor

available at anytime for the students, supportive corrective feedback which can be

individualized based on students' needs and goals improves the quality of the drafts

and students' motivation.

Providing different kinds of feedback to treat different errors related to form

or content leads the students to produce quality drafts. The study shows that coded

feedback and descriptive feedback are highly efficient in motivating the students to

revise their drafts for several times. Here, email as a method of delivery plays an

important role. It reduces reasonably the time between writing a draft and receiving

teacher feedback which engage the students in practice writing and editing more

frequently.