Reimaging student feedback for improved academic writing skills in a first-year English studies module at a distance education institution in South Africa

Abstract

This study examined first-year students, markers and lecturers’ perceptions of feedback in the context of academic writing in one mega module at an open distance and eLearning (ODeL) university in South Africa. It explored feedback that was provided to students and how markers foster the significance of feedback as a teaching tool in the context of an Academic Writing module. Moreover, the study recommended guidelines emerging from the data that can help improve feedback in an ODeL context for the improved academic writing skills of the first-year students. The study is underpinned by Vygotsky’s (1978) sociocultural theory and Hattie and Timperley’s (2007) Model of Feedback to enhance learning. The study adopted a qualitative research methodology and utilised a case study approach as a research design. Furthermore, the study gathered data from students, documents (students’ marked assignments and moderators’ reports), markers and lecturers. To collect data, open-ended evaluation questionnaires, semi-structured interviews and documentary analyses of marked scripts and moderation reports were used to gather data. Most studies reviewed indicated that constructive feedback improved academic writing in both distance learning and contact education universities. However, the findings in this study show that students are not satisfied with the kinds of feedback they receive from markers as it is experienced as insufficient. Because of this, students request more explicit feedback that may bridge the gap that is caused by distance learning in the ODeL context. On the other hand, the results from markers’ and lecturers’ data indicate that feedback is one of the major teaching tools that are emphasised in the module. The study argues that feedback is a necessity in an ODeL university since this university enrols vast numbers of students who are mostly from diverse backgrounds in which English is spoken as an additional language. The study revealed that feedback is decontextualized and detached from students’ sociocultural practices and contexts, it is primarily teacher-centred, it focuses on literacy as a subject and not literacy as a social skill and it is focused on results and is not process-focused.