Secondary Students' Responses when Teachers Correct Their Mistakes Throughout Passage Reading

Abstract

This study explores strategies to improve reading comprehension and examines the direct and indirect impacts of remedial feedback, particularly among high school students learning English as a foreign language. It also looks into how students react to criticism, including their perceptions of corrective methods and their general attitudes toward them. The research identifies key factors that shape these reactions, based on a simple experimental study involving 30 participants.

Findings reveal that the type of corrective feedback and the nature of errors influence student performance differently over time. Participants generally favored direct feedback, finding it easier to apply and less time-consuming. However, indirect feedback appeared to be more effective in helping students improve overall accuracy when engaging with new reading materials.

A subset of students still faced difficulties with reading and received both forms of feedback. Some of them preferred indirect correction, believing it helped them identify, fix, and remember their mistakes while reducing repeated errors during review.

Students may struggle to process feedback due to quick teacher corrections or limited review time. To overcome these barriers, students employed various strategies, such as seeking help from teachers, carefully reviewing their work, consulting dictionaries or grammar guides, or writing and reading corrections aloud.

Overall, the study concludes that a combination of direct and indirect corrective feedback significantly enhances reading comprehension and accuracy for EFL learners, with long-term benefits.