22 1
The use of proper nouns 2
The use of past tenses 3
It is organized in a chronological order, using time connectors that signal the order of sequences or events, for example then, next, after, meanwhile.
4 The use of adjectives and adverbs for details.
4. Collaborative Feedback
a. Definition of Feedback
According to Keh in Muncie 2000: 47, feedback is seen as essential to the multiple draft process, as it is ‘what pushes the writer through the various
drafts and on to the eventual end- product’. Moreover, Hamp-Lyons Heasley in
Mandhari states that feedback is supposed to show learners what is right or wrong in order to produce a better text in the future. Furthermore, Hyland in Muncie
2000: 47 states that various types of feedback are possible, including peer feedback, conferencing, and written teacher-feedback, as well as more innovative
methods such as the use of taped commentaries and computer based response. In support, Harmer 2003: 112 proposes that written feedback is designed
not just to give an assessment of the students’ work, but also to help and teach. Moreover, he states
that we give feedback because we want to affect our students’ language use in the future as well as commenting upon its use in the past.
From the definition above, it can be concluded that feedback is an input from a reader to a writer to inform whether an instructional response is right or
23 wrong and designed to help and teach to affect the students’ language use in the
future.
b. Written Feedback Technique
In dealing with students’ error and mistakes, teacher can give them any feedback as stated in Harmer 2003: 110:
1 Responding
One way of considering feedback is to think of it as ‘responding’ to
students’ work rather than assessing or evaluating what they have done. Moreover Harmer states that, when the teachers respond, they should say about how the text
appears to them, and how successful they think it has been —and, sometimes, how
it could be improved. In addition, when we respond to a final written product an essay or a
finished project we can say what we liked, how we felt about the text, and what they might do next time if the students are going to write something similar. There
is also another constructive way of responding to students’ written work that is to
show alternative ways of writing through reformulation.
2 Coding
Some teachers use codes, and can then put these codes either in the body of the writing itself, or in a corresponding margin. This makes correction much
neater, less threatening and considerably more helpful than random marks and comments.
24 We can decide on the particular codes and symbols we use with our
students, making sure that they are quite clear about what our symbols mean through demonstration and example.
c. Sources of Feedback
