Written Corrective Feedback - Teachers’ Beliefs, Practices and Challenges in an Omani Context

Oct 15, 2026

Empirical evidence indicates that teachers’ beliefs shape instructional decisions, yet limited attention has been given to how those beliefs influence written corrective feedback (WCF) practices. This exploratory case study investigates teachers’ beliefs about WCF, the reasons behind their practices, and the challenges they face while providing WCF in an Omani public college. Qualitative interviews with six writing teachers and WCF analysis from 18 students’ assignments show contextual factors and beliefs affect implementation, with discrepancies between stated and actual practices.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages30

Reading Time1 h 16 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Theoretical Background

Teachers’ Beliefs

Written Corrective Feedback: Teachers’ Beliefs, Practicesand Challenges in an Omani Context Arab Journal of Applied Linguistics e-ISSN 2490-4198 Vol. 1, No. 1, January 2016, 44-73 © The Author [http://www.arjals.com](http://www.arjals.com) Sawsan Al-Bakri1 University of Exeter, UK Abstract There is empirical evidence that teachers’ beliefs affect their instructional decisions. Research investigating teachers’ beliefs is vast as is research on the effectiveness of written corrective feedback (WCF) . However, how teachers’ beliefs influence their WCF practices has received little attention. The purpose of this study is to explore teachers’ beliefs on WCF and the reasons for their practices as well as the challenges they might face while providing WCF in a public college in Oman. An exploratory case study was employed. Qualitative data obtained from semi-structured interviews with six writing teachers and the analysis of WCF provided on 18 students’ written assignments revealed that teachers’ beliefs and contextual factors affected their WCF practices. In addition, the study identified several discrepancies between some teachers’ stated and actual WCF practices. In general, teachers provided mostly comprehensive, direct WCF which is in contrast to what has been recommended in the literature on WCF. The study also revealed that there is lack of communication between teachers and students regarding WCF. Moreover, students’ attitudes towards WCF can have a negative emotional impact on teachers. The study ends with recommendations to improve the current WCF practices and to sketch avenues for future research. Keywords: Beliefs, English language teachers’ beliefs, teachers’ practices, written corrective feedback (WCF) Theoretical Background The main purpose of this study is to explore teachers’ beliefs and practices concerning WCF and to what extent they match in a public college in Oman. It also aims at identifying the challenges teachers might encounter while providing feedback. Although research on teachers’ beliefs and WCF is vast, there is paucity in research about teachers’ beliefs on WCF and the extent their beliefs influence their WCF practices 1 Corresponding author: Sawsan Al-Bakri, University of Exeter Email: [Sawsanbakri@hotmail.com](Sawsanbakri@hotmail.com) (Lee, 2003, 2009) . Published literature on teachers’ beliefs and practices on WCF in the Arab world is rather scarce. However, some studies investigated teachers’ and students’beliefs on WCF such as Abou Eissa (2010), Al-Shahrani (2013), Diab (2005, 2006), and Hamouda (2011) . Lee (2009) argues that teachers’ beliefs and practices play a pivotal role in the classroom because they directly affect the teaching and learning process. Therefore,“uncovering the beliefs that underlie teachers’ practices can help identify the factors that contribute to effective feedback”(Lee, 2009. p.14) . In addition, teachers who are willing to reflect on their beliefs and how they influence their practice can capitalize on their beliefs by identifying the beliefs that do not serve their students which in turn can support their own professional growth (Xu, 2012) . This study aims to fill a gap in the literature in this regard. Teachers’ Beliefs Research in general education and language teaching education has devoted a great deal of attention into teachers’ beliefs as one aspect of teacher cognition (Borg, 2003, 2006, 2012; Pajares, 1992) . The interest in teachers’ beliefs is based on the commonly held view that beliefs play a major role in determining teachers’ perceptions, judgmentsand behaviour. A growing body of research into teachers’ beliefs has suggested that beliefs play a major role in teachers’ pedagogical practices (Borg, 2003, 2006; Johnson, 1994; Farrell & Kun, 2008; Pajares, 1992) . According to Pajares (1992), the term belief is a “messy construct” and he explains that “The difficulty in studying teachers’ beliefs has been caused by definit

FAQs

What is the study’s main purpose regarding written corrective feedback (WCF)?

The study explores how teachers’ beliefs influence their WCF practices, the reasons behind those practices, and the challenges teachers face while providing WCF in an Omani public college.

How was the research conducted?

An exploratory case study approach was used, combining qualitative semi-structured interviews with six writing teachers and analysis of WCF provided on students’ written assignments.

What relationships did the study find between beliefs, context, and WCF practices?

Teachers’ beliefs and contextual factors affected their WCF practices, and the study identified discrepancies between some teachers’ stated and actual WCF approaches.

Oct 15, 2026

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