STUDENTS’ VOICE ON FEEDBACK AND INSTRUCTIONS IN ACADEMIC WRITING - Based on Erasmus Teaching Experience in Slovak and Hungarian University

Oct 15, 2026

Explores senior university students’ “voice” regarding feedback and writing instructions in EFL academic writing classrooms, drawing on comparative research conducted at Slovak and Hungarian universities at the faculty of Humanities. The study finds generally more positive student responses to feedback, grading, and recognition as writers across both groups, while highlighting heterogeneous views about grading. A final questionnaire section evaluates how writing instructions can be improved, showing broad support for feedback, tutoring, online support, and extra courses. The study proposes further research into feedback approaches and creation of resources for Europe-wide academic writing support.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages7

Reading Time18 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Methods

Research Design

Results and Discussion

Conclusion

DOI: 10.20535/2410-8286.234216 STUDENTS’ VOICE ON FEEDBACK AND INSTRUCTIONS IN ACADEMIC WRITING (Based on Erasmus Teaching Experience in Slovak and Hungarian University) Olena Hundarenko The University of Zilina, Slovakia [olena.hundarenko@fhv.uniza.sk](olena.hundarenko@fhv.uniza.sk) Although studies on the approaches and methods of teaching Academic Writing in university classroom are extensive, comparative studies on students’ evaluation of the classroom strategies and techniques applied are still scant. A current paper is based on our comparative research conducted both at Slovak and Hungarian universities at the faculty of Humanities. The objective of this particular study was to explore senior university students’ “voice” on feedback and instructions in EFL academic writing classroom. It suggests that the pinpoint is on the students’ viewpoint rather than their supervisors’. Therefore, our task was to scrutinise the students’ perspectives and based on them develop further research. Observably, the analysed data furnish more positive students’responses (within both Group A-Slovak and Group B-Hungarian) on feedback, as well as on being graded and being recognised as a writer. However, grading might be an issue in EFL classroom: based on the research, it awakes heterogeneous opinions of the respondents. The final section of the questionnaire was aimed at finding out how instructions for writing during studies can be improved. It is notable that both groups (A and B) (from 66,67% to 100%) consider feedback, professional tutoring, online support and extra courses in writing as an effective tool for improving writing skills within academic curriculum. A logical follow-up of the study might be investigating most appropriate and “customer-friendly” ways of feedback and instruction. This might further instigate creating resources to support the unfolding of academic writing feedback across EFL programme Europe-wide. Keywords: academic writing; EFL students’ voice; writing instructions; feedback. Introduction This paper has become possible due to European staff exchange (under the Erasmus programme) which enabled and encouraged us to prepare a special comparative questionnaire on developing academic writing in EFL classroom and collect a number of students’ replies for further analysis and implications. Hence, our primary insight here is on EFL academic writing-related issues. Noteworthy, there is an expanding body of publications on developing writing skills in a contemporary EFL classroom (Brisk, 2014 ; Burgess, Sieminski and Arthur, 2006; Fairbairn and Winch, 2011 ; Hedgcock, 2010; Hedgcock and Ferris, 2009; Nikolenko et al., 2021; Thomson and Walker, 2010, etc.) . Substantial research has been carried out on causes of writing apprehension or anxiety and blocking, which can elucidate students’ resistance to writing tasks (Hanna, 2010; Kara, 2013) . Significant studies have also been completed on students’ feedback and its effectiveness for further enhancing writing skills (Carless and Boud, 2018; Dmitrenko and Budas, 2021; Esterhazy and Damsa, 2017; Khan, 2016; Hedgcock and Ferris, 2009; Lee, 2007; Narciss, 2008; O’Keeffe et al., 2020) . Moreover, scholars emphasise that writing skills are to be considered when selecting an appropriate functional style in an act of communication (Leláková, 2015) . Writing has gradually become a vital technical tool of all kinds of professionals constituting an inseparable component of a learner’s domain knowledge and literacy (Khan, 2016; Kostikova et al., 2019; Lazebna, Dychka, and Kotvytska, 2016) . For this reason, today’s EFL instructors are expected to train students on how to generate and organise ideas, how to use suitable grammar and vocabulary, how to draft, avoid plagiarism, use correct register (Hundarenko, 2019), how to begin and end, and how to proofread and edit a piece of writing. Thus, developing writing skills embodies today a very relevant and vast researc

FAQs

What is the main objective of the study?

To explore senior university students’ “voice” on feedback and instructions in EFL academic writing classrooms, emphasizing students’ viewpoints rather than supervisors’.

How do students generally respond to feedback and related practices?

The analyzed data show more positive responses to feedback, grading, and being recognized as a writer within both groups (Slovak and Hungarian).

Why is grading discussed as a potential issue in EFL classrooms?

The research indicates that grading can awaken heterogeneous opinions among respondents, making it a point requiring careful consideration.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Nguyễn Văn Học