The Effect of Coded and Uncoded Written Corrective Feedback Types on Iranian EFL Learners' Writing Accuracy

The debate about whether or not written corrective feedback (WCF) as a pedagogical act can improve students' written accuracy has been voiced for more than 30 years. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of two types of WCF (coded and uncoded) on Iranian EFL learners' writing accuracy with regard to 10 kinds of errors (Verb Tense, Capitalization, Punctuation, Selling, Word Formation, Adding something, Deleting something, Wrong Word, Subject-Verb agreement, and plural vs. singular errors). By means of a placement test, two intact classes in Pre-intermediate level were selected and randomly assigned into two groups receiving the two feedback types (N=27 participants in each). For the first group, teacher underlined all the errors and wrote coded signs on them, but for the second group, teacher underlined and corrected all the errors. This procedure was followed for four weeks and at the end of the forth composition, immediate test, and after a month the delayed post-test were given to see whether or not the treatment had been effective. The results revealed that coded type of WCF had a positive influence on learners' accurate use of all selected grammatical structures (especially Verb Tense) both in the short term and in the long run. The results were discussed in relation to some implications and recommendations for further research.