Chapter three: field work and data analysis

1. Introduction:

The following chapter focuses on the research study's practical applications. It

displays the results of the data collection process from students' attitudes and perspectives

on the role of teacher feedback in the development of student written production. The

latter are based on information collected from a questionnaire that was organized

according to the study topic, objectives, and research questions. Following the findings,

there follows a debate to interpret them.

2. Research Approach:

A research approach is a strategy that includes everything from general assumptions

to specific data collecting, analysis, and interpretation methodologies. The proposed

research aims at investigating the Role of Teachers’ Feedback on Process Approach in

Developing Students’ Written Production. Therefore a qualitative research approach has

been selected to guide our exploratory inquiry. A qualitative research is a method for

investigating and comprehending the significance that individuals or groups attribute to a

social or human problem.

The aim of this research is to learn more a phenomenon through exploring the

experiences and opinions of participants who have experienced it. Hence an exploratory

research design has been used to gather data about this phenomenon. Exploratory

research is defined as research conducted to investigate an undefined problem. It is

carried out to gain a better understanding of the current problem (Bhat, n.d.). in order to

answer this study’s research questions and get clear information, a semi structured

questionnaire for students has been used as a data collection tool.

3. Student’s questionnaire:
3.1 The sample:

In this research, we opt for third year students in the English division at Mohammed

Khidher University of Biskra. There is around 400 students divided into 8 groups; each

group consists of about 40 students. From the mentioned population, we will choose two

groups randomly to represent as a sample for this research. Therefore, we were able to

collect 30 responses from students.

3.2 Aims of the questionnaire:

A questionnaire is a type of research tool that consists of a series of questions

designed to elicit useful information from respondents. These instruments use an

interview-style format and include either written or oral questions. Questionnaires can be

qualitative or quantitative, and they can be administered online, by phone, on paper, or in

person. Questions do not have to be administered in the presence of a researcher (“What

Is a Questionnaire | Types of Questionnaires in Research,” n.d.). the aim behind using a

questionnaire as a data collection tool is to collect the necessary data about third-year

LMD

Students’ opinions and attitudes towards the Role of Teachers’ Feedback on Process

Approach in Developing Students’ Written Production. We chose third Year students as a

sample because they study the written expression as a fundamental module so they have

a chance to practice the writing skill more, whether practically through writing essays

and paragraphs or theoretically by receiving knowledge about this process and its main

approaches. We also want to know why some students face difficulties in the process of

acquiring the writing skill.

3.3 Description of Student’s Questionnaire:

This study's questionnaire includes a variety of question types. Closed-ended and

open-ended questions, multiple-choice, yes/no questions, a Likert scale, and checkboxes

 are all included. However, the purpose of including open-ended options is to allow

participants to interact with the question posed. The questionnaire contains 15 questions

that we believe have covered all of the aspects required for this research.

The questionnaire for this study is divided into three types: one classification

question, eight behavioral questions, and seven attitude questions. The classification

questions are designed to categorize our respondents based on their gender. The

behavioral questions address our variable "the role of teacher feedback," while the

attitudinal questions address our second variable "improving students' written

productions."

3.4 Validating and Piloting the Students’ Questionnaire:

The stages of validation and piloting refer to the processes of evaluating the data

collection tool used in research to ensure its effectiveness. The first draft of the

questionnaire was presented to the supervisor during a supervision meeting to ensure that

the questions served the study's objectives. After receiving and considering feedback from

the supervisor.

The questionnaire was edited and distributed by hand to ten students for pilot testing.

The frequency of justification questions under almost every question seemed to bother the

piloting participants. We noticed that the majority of the justification blanks were left

blank, which we realized did not help our research. This note was considered when

designing and addressing the final draft of the questionnaire.

3.5 Administration of the Questionnaire:

The questionnaire was administered to the participants of third year students in the

English division at Mohammed Khidher University of Biskra by visiting their classes and

distributing it to them. The participants were given a specific time to feel free to answer

the questions according to their own knowledge and experience.

3.6 Analysis of Students’ Questionnaire:

This section is devoted to the examination of the students' questionnaire responses.

The analysis was completed in four days by using an Excel spreadsheet to create the

charts, figures, and table

Item 1: Gender

17%

female
male

83%

Figure 1 : Students’ gender

Our questionnaire started with a group of personal questions. The first question aims

at identifying the gender of the participant. The result of this question as stated in the

figure above that females make 83% of our sample on the other hand males make 17%

only. This shows females’ special interest in language studies.

Item 2: Was studying English in University?

 10%

90%

a personal choice
an imposed decision

Figure 2: students' choice in language studies

The second question targeted the students’ decision in specializing in language studies

whether it was a personal decision or an imposed one. As the chart above shows that 90%

of the participants chose personally to study English while 10% were imposed to choose

language studies as their specialty. This indicates that most of the students in language

studies chose to specialize in it.

Item 3: How do you find your level in English?

A. bad

B. Average

C. Good

D. Very good
 10%

yes
no

90%

Figure 3

The last question in personal information section seeks to find out the participants’

level in English. The result of this analysis demonstrate that 60% of the students’ have a

good level, 10% have a very good level, and 30 percent have an average level. According

to this analysis, students who choose language studies do not have the same level, as

shown in the above figure we can find a very good level as we can find good and average

level.

Item 4: Do you like the written expression module?

47%
53% Yes
No

Figure 4: how many students like written expression

 The second part of the questionnaire that is concerned with the written expression

module. The first question aims at identifying how many students like written expression.

Therefore the figure above illustrates how many students answered with yes and no. the

results show that almost half of the participants answered with No a percentage of 47%

while 53% answered with Yes. Therefore there are a considerable number of students that

do not enjoy the written expression module.

Item 5: How good do you consider yourself in writing?

A. Bad

B. Very bad

C. Good

D. Very good

10%

yes
no

90%

Figure 5

In this question, participants were given several options for determining their level of

written expression. The majority of students responded with "good," indicating that they

consider their writing level to be good. While 14% of students consider their writing level
 to be bad, only 3% consider their writing level to be very bad. However, none of the

students selected "very good," implying that none believe their level is above average.

Students struggle in the writing expression module based on these findings.

Item 6.1: Do you face any difficulties in writing?

10%

Yes
No

90%

Figure 6: Number of Students who face Difficulties in Writing Expression

We asked this question to give students the opportunity to say whether or not they

have problems with the written expression module. After giving the participants the

option of answering Yes or No, we deduced that the majority of 90 percent answered Yes,

indicating that they struggle with their writing ability, while only 10 percent answered

NO. Based on the results of the above figure, we believe that some of these participants

dislike the module because they find it difficult to manage or simply struggle to complete

a successful piece of writing.

Item 6.2: If Yes, in which aspect?

 40%
37%
35% 33%

30%

25%
20%
20%

15%
10%
10%

5%

0%
Grammar Vocabulary Lack of ides Other

Figure 7: students' difficulties in writing.

After giving students the opportunity to express whether they face difficulties in the

written expression module, we added an extra question with multiple choices of possible

struggles. The results showed that 37 percent of students chose "lack of ideas," which

means they have difficulty writing because they don't have enough ideas, 33 percent

chose "Vocabulary," and 20 percent chose grammar. This indicates that majority of the

participants' writing difficulties are primarily due to "lack of ideas," "grammar," and

"vocabulary." However, with the fourth option, which allows participants to add an

additional "Other" reasons, 10% of students mentioned the following: l

 Lack of creativity.

 Teachers.

 Lack of organization.

 Confusion.
Item 7: Do you think that improving our writing skill is necessary?

yes
no

100%

Figure 8: The Necessity of Improving the Writing Skill.

By the end of this section in the questionnaire, we asked the participants whether

improving the writing skill is an important thing or not. Based on the results of this

question all of the students answered with Yes (100%). When we asked the students to

justify their answers most of the students mentioned the importance of the writing skill in

EFL learning and how poor writing can also affect other skills.

Item 8: How often do teachers provide feedback to your written work?

 Always 20%

Sometimes 63%

Rarely 7%

Never 10%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70%

Figure 9: Teaches' Feedback on Students' Written Expression.

We focused on the importance of feedback in the third section of the questionnaire, so

we asked students how frequently they receive feedback on their writing from their

teachers. After being given multiple options, 63% chose sometimes, 20% said always,

10% said never, and only 7 % said rarely. Based on these findings, we concluded that

participants receive feedback in the classroom, but not always.

Item 9: Do you like receiving feedback from your teachers?

10%

yes
no

90%

Figure 10
 The question above aimed at exploring whether students like receiving feedback from

their teachers or not. 93 percent of the students answered with yes while 7 percent of

students answered with no. when asked to justify their answered the students who

answered with no said that teacher’s feedback alone is not enough to improve their

writing skill therefore they need other types of feedback. Students who answered with yes

mentioned a number of reasons:

 Teachers’ feedback is a guide for them.

 It helps them recognize their errors.

 It helps them.

Item 10: Do you think receiving feedback on your written productions from your teachers is

helpful?

10%

Yes
No

90%

Figure 11: the importance of teachers' feedback.

This question sought to ascertain students' perspectives on whether teachers' feedback

on writing productions is beneficial. The majority of students (90 %) said yes, while only

a few students (10 %) said no. According to the graph above, the majority of students
 value their teachers' feedback. When asked how, the majority of the students who

answered yes said that before writing their final products or getting tested and examined,

they need teacher feedback that works as a guide that identifies their errors. Additionally

they also mentioned how it helps them in reaching their academic achievement.

Item 11: Does the type of the feedback provide by your teachers affects the teacher-student

relationship?

27%

Yes
No

73%

Figure 12: Students' relationship with Teachers.

We asked this question in order to investigate if students think that receiving feedback

from teachers affect the student-teacher relationship. More than half of the students

answered with Yes (27%) while the rest answered with No (73%). When the participants

were asked in what way? The students who answered with yes mentioned the following:

 When teachers provide feedback with good objective point of view that criticizes the

work of the student and not the student himself. It will make their relationship stronger

yet if not it will only push students make the same errors again on purpose.
 Positive feedback is more helpful than negative feedback, because it makes students

motivated and have more trust in their writings. Yet negative feedback makes students be

ashamed from their work and therefore hold grudges on teachers.

 Teachers’ feedbacks affect the student-teacher relationship because it determines how

well teachers know their students and understand their errors and with that providing

them with feedbacks they need in order to help them better their writing productions.

Item 12: What type of feedback do you prefer? And Why?

 Positive feedback

 Negative feedback

 Constructive feedback

 Formal feedback (after the exam or test)

 Informal feedback (during the learning process)

 All of the above

 Other types

11
9
7
5
3
1
written oral feed- feedbck construc- feedback other
feedback back that high- tive fed- that fo-
lights back cuses on
your er- the
rors process
not the
person

% 10 11 5 5 10 2

Figure 13: Types of feedback students prefer.

 Because the above question seeks to elicit the types of feedback that students prefer,

we used multiple-choice responses. Based on this figure, 41 % chose positive feedback,

implying that the majority of participants prefer to receive positive feedback on their written

productions. Negative feedback was chosen by 3% of the students, constructive feedback by

13%, formal feedback by 11%, and informal feedback by 5%. According to the participants’

responses, positive feedback is favored over negative feedback, along with constructive and

formal feedback. However, 27 % selected all options, indicating that they prefer to receive all

types of feedback and agree on the importance of all types.

Item 13: To what extent do you agree with the following statements:

agree Strongly Neutral Disagree Strongly

agree Disagree
- Positive 67% 13% 7% 13% 0%
feedback is
more helpful
than negative
feedback

- Feedback does 0% 7% 0% 15% 43%

not help
students
improve their
writing skills

- Teachers’ 50% 3% 7% 40% 0%

feedback is not
important
 - The 37% 47% 13% 3% 0%
effectiveness of
feedback is
important in
order for
students to
know their
errors

- Negative 23% 7% 30% 27% 13%

feedback is not
effective in
enhancing
student’s
writing skills

Figure 14
This figure illustrates to what extent students agree or disagree with the above

statements. The table has five statements. The first one says that positive feedback is more

helpful than negative feedback 67% of students agreed, 13% strongly agreed, 7% remained

neutral, 13% disagreed, and none of the students strongly disagreed. This indicates that the

majority of students assume that positive feedback can help them in enhancing their written

productions more than negative feedback. The second statement says that feedback in general

does not help students in developing their writing skill. None of the students agreed, 7%

strongly agreed, 0%, none of the students was neutral, 15% disagreed, and 43% strongly

disagreed. Although some of the participants do not believe in the importance of feedback

most of them agree that feedback has a role in developing students’ writing skill. The third

statement said that teachers’ feedback is not important. 50% of the students agreed, 3%

strongly agreed, 7% remained neutral, 40% disagreed. 0% strongly disagreed. This indicates

that half of the students agree that teachers’ feedback is not important in helping students

develop their writing skill, while the rest of the students believe that teachers’ feedback is

important. The fourth statement suggests that the effectiveness of feedback is important in

order for students to know their errors. 37% of the students agreed, 47% strongly agreed,
13% were neutral, 3% disagreed. Based on these results students agree and think that the

effectiveness of the teachers’ feedback helps them recognize their errors even more, therefore

they can work on them; unlike ineffective feedback that can mislead students and not help

them. The final statement suggests that Negative feedback is not effective in enhancing

student’s writing skills. 23% of the students agreed, 7% strongly agreed, 30% remained

neutral, 27% disagreed, and 13% strongly disagreed. The figure above illustrates that almost

half of the students do not believe in the importance of negative of negative feedback, yet the

rest of the students agree that negative feedback can help students in enhancing their writing

productions.

Item 14: According to you, effective feedback

 Written feedback

 Oral feedback

 Feedback that highlights your errors only

 Constructive feedback

 Feedback that focus on the process not the person

 other types of feedback:

 written feedback
oral feedback
feedbck that highlights your errors
constructive fedback
feedback that focuses on the process not the person
other
23% 5% 23%

12% 26%
12%

Figure 15: Effective Feedback.

In order to explore what is the effective feedback we provided students with multiple

choices based on the figure above 23% of students chose written feedback, 25% oral

feedback, 12% feedback that highlights errors, 12% constructive feedback, 23% feedback

that focuses on the person and not the students and 5% other types of feedback. Based on

these results above most of the students agree on importance of all types of feedback mainly

written , oral, and feedback that focuses on the process. Additionally they also believe in the

effectiveness of constructive feedback and feedback that focuses on the errors. Moreover

other students mentioned extra effective feedbacks like face to face feedback, classroom

feedback and pair feedback.

Item 15: Does repeating the same errors in written productions after already

receiving feedback from your teachers, is because of the effectiveness of the

feedback provided?
 27%

Yes
No

73%

Figure 16
The question above aims at exploring if the students’ repeat their errors after already

receiving feedback from their teachers is because of the effectiveness of the feedback

provided. 27% of students answered with yes while almost all of the students (73%) of

students answered with No. when students were asked to justify their answers that teachers’

feedback is always helpful and not vice versa. And that student’s repetitive errors is the

responsibility of the students for the lack of practice.

4. Conclusion:

This final chapter is devoted to the study's fieldwork, in which one data

collection tool, namely the students' questionnaire, was used. The questionnaire was

given to 30 third-year EFL students at Mohamed Khider University of Biskra's

English Division. Simultaneously, it is important to note that this tool enabled us to

investigate the participants' attitudes and opinions regarding the role of Teachers'

Feedback on Process Approach in Developing Students' Written Production. To

summarize, students' attitudes toward the role of Teachers' Feedback on Process

Approach in Developing Students' Written Production were both positive and

negative. Furthermore, the researchers discussed and interpreted some major themes.

Overall, the findings of the study meet the objectives and provide answers to the

research questions.