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LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter presents some actual theories as references to support this study. It
contains at the following sections; Teaching Writing, Feedback, the Role of Teacher in Giving
Indirect Feedback to Students writing, The Assessment Technique of Students Writing,
Stages in Writing, Overview of Process in Descriptive Writing, and Review of Related
Studies.
2.1 Teaching Writing
Writing is one of important skills that language learners need to learn as an essential
component not only for their academic practice but also later in their professional life.
Teaching or learning how to write successfully gets even more complicated and challenged
for both language teachers and students. However, many teachers agree that in the classroom,
writing should get much attention as reading, speaking and listening. Yet many teacher and
students alike consider writing to be most difficult subject of language skill to learn. (Senduk
in hasyim, 2002: 13)
The teaching of writing is a matter of prescribing a set of predetermined tasks or
exercises to the students. When teachers teach writing course not only teach about how to
develop ideas in writing, but also need a serious attention of how to write English sentences
grammatically and systematically. So, teaching writing will be good if depends on the
teachers' ability how to teach writing effectively which can make the students ability being
improved.
According to Lee (2005), in improving the effectiveness of writing, there are some
important notes must be noticed in teaching writing and assessment. In teaching writing, the
teaching should engage students in peer /self-evaluation. When they apply the criteria, they

become better informed about the requirements of good writing (for specific genres) and
Provide students with a language for discussing their writing. In assessing writing, teacher
should respond to writing based on criteria that have been communicated and taught to
students and responses to errors. To respond the error teacher can use a feedback that contains
specific criteria for the writing task and criteria that have been taught and communicated to
the learners.
2.2 Feedback
One of the ways to make students be able to create good writing is the teacher should
provide constructive feedback to their writing. In this section, the writer wants to explain what
kind of feedback that important to students writing, the advantages and disadvantages of the
feedback itself.
Feedback is kind of assessment that concern to the giving information about students
writing performance. Ur (1996: 242) says that in the context of teaching general, feedback is
information that is given to the learner about his or her performance of the learning task,
usually with the objective of improving their performance.
In addition, Roger (2001) says Feedback is not just about weaknesses. Student will
respond if teachers are encouraging as well as allowing mistakes, emerging capabilities, and
give ideas for directing further learning. From these definitions, it is clear that feedback is
very useful in teaching and learning process, besides students will learn how to evaluate their
self (self-evaluate), it also help students to take greater confidence of their learning and
increasing the students performance.
In providing feedback, teacher should encourage students to continue writing, in order
students feel good with their writing and carry the activity through completion (Grabe and
Kaplan, 1996 : 275). So, in process writing teacher must motivate students to do more toward
their writing.

2.2.1 Types of Teachers Feedback


Feedback consists of some types. One of them is teachers feedback/correction.
Feedback from teacher on the students writing could play a vital role especially in teaching
process. In this case, teacher recognizes that teachers feedback is essential element in helping
students improve, and an essential part of the teaching process (Anderson, 1982). It indicates
that under teachers feedback, students will know the appropriate of the language feature for
their composition, how their composition should be arranged and their composition will be
better.
There are two kinds of teachers feedback; they are direct and indirect feedback.
Direct feedback is a technique of correcting students error by giving explicit written
feedback. While, indirect feedback is when the teacher/tutor alerts students to error using
general comments, but gives students the opportunity to fix errors themselves (Ferris, 2002 :
19). Lee (2005) defines Direct feedback is provided when the correct form is written on
students paper whereas indirect feedback is provided if the teacher indicates the location of
the error indirectly on the paper by underlining, highlighting or circling, or indirectly by
indicating in the margins that there is an error on that line but without providing the correct
form.
2.2.2 Direct Feedback Vs. Indirect feedback
Although there are some types of feedback, there must be the difference when using
direct or indirect feedback on students writing. Frodesen (2001) notes that indirect feedback
is more useful than direct feedback. Students are able to express their ideas more clearly in
writing and to get clarification on any comments that teachers have made. Similarly, Fulgor
(2006: 34) states that in indirect feedback, students appreciated its beneficial effect on their
learning and direct feedback to be more helpful when revising syntax and vocabulary,

whereas they felt that indirect feedback was useful in encouraging them to reflect on aspects
of their writing and to develop improvements.
Moreover, some research evidences suggest that indirect feedback is more helpful on
students long-term writing development than direct feedback (Ferris, 2003; Fratzen, 1995).
The results showed that indirect feedback with student self-editing contributes to accuracy
more than direct feedback. Others have reported that indirect feedback may be more
beneficial to students than direct feedback in editing, because indirect feedback can guide
learning and help the students solve problem by themselves (Lalande, 1982).
From those statements, the researcher believes that indirect feedback will be more
increasing the students ability in writing and students who get indirect feedback will be
preserved in his/her brain in a long time. While, direct feedback will be kept in their mind in a
short time. If the students are only provided by direct feedback, the student will not have
opportunity to reflect and correct the errors for themselves; they only note the note of the
errors from the teacher.
To make indirect feedback is more effective, Lee (2004) state that indirect feedback
can be done by a symbol representing a specific kind of error (T=verb tense, Sp=spelling) and
to reduce student confusion, teachers can consistently use a standard set of symbols or
markings to indicate place and type of error and train the students in what kinds of corrections
to make based on each symbol. Furthermore, teachers should familiarize students with the
system so they will not be surprised when new symbols are occured.
Finocchiaro in hasyim (2002:23) gives the symbols or codec that can be used to
indicate error in indirect feedback can be seen as follows:

Table 1 Correction codes used to indicate error types in indirect feedback


No

Code

Meaning

Kinds of errors
The words are inapplicable with the

WC

Word choice
sentences/ meaning
Wrong preposition

PREP

Preposition
verb tense or GR = more

VT

S/V A

SP

ART

7
8

N.P
^

10

good

11

WO

Wrong tense/ use another tense


general grammar problems
subject verb agreement
subject and verb dont agree
Wrong spelling/punctuation your
spelling error
spelling
Use article a, an or the for singular
Article
noun
new paragraph
Unorganized paragraph
missing word
There is a missing word need to insert
I cant understand this. The meaning is
question mark) unclear
not clear. Write in another way to make
meaning
the meaning clearer.
You have something good here: a good
Good idea, good detail
word, idea, detail, etc
the words in this sentence are in the
word order
wrong order

2.3 The role of teacher in providing indirect feedback to Students writing


The students cannot write alone and writing also not only a single step but a process.
To pass the process from the first draft until the final draft, they need guidance, supporter and
counselor/advisor to make their writing better. Therefore, they need someone to check about
the mistake that they made. It could be from teacher or peer because writing usually involves
one person for another to help them in expressing their ideas in writing form. Even though
peers feedback is more advantageous, the teachers feedback is eventually needed to provide a
whole class impression before they are engaged in an individual writing as practice. Here,

teacher can be as describer when he/she gives feedback. But before that, teacher should be a
reader and as advisor for them.
The patterns of feedback and responses given by the writing teacher depend very
much on the teachers conception of the composing process and his/her understanding of
learners errors. Teachers may, on the one hand, present themselves as helpful facilitators
offering support and guidance; on the other hand, they may act as an authority imposing
critical judgment on writing products (Ferris et al , 2001).
Teachers can offer selfcorrection opportunity for their students by providing indirect
feedback on students grammatical errors (Chandler , 2003 ). The assistance and feedback
given by the teacher should not be confined to the last stage of the writing process. The
marking of products should always open more opportunities in which students can redraft
their work. By depriving them of their opportunity for redrafting and reassessing, the students
cannot have the chance of correcting the wrong behavior and re-practicing the correct
behavior.
In addition, students are able to express their ideas more clearly in writing and to get
clarification on any comments indirectly that teachers have made to their writing.
2.4 The Assessment Technique of Students Writing
In assessing the students writing Quality, Jacob (1981: 60) suggests five components
or criteria to evaluate the students writing quality: content, organization, vocabulary,
language use (grammar) and mechanics.
Content of Writing must be knowledgeable, substantive, thorough development of
thesis, relevant to assigned topic. Organization of Writing must be fluent expression, idea
clearly stated/supported, succinct, well-organized, logical sequencing, cohesive. Vocabulary
of Writing must be sophisticated range, effective word/idiom choice, and usage, word form
mastery, and appropriate register. Language use (grammar) in writing activity, the students

will create the sentences based on their ideas and the words in the sentences must be arranged
grammatically which deals with tenses and agreement. (Mc. Crimmon ,1984:596). The last is
Mechanics of Writing which consists of Spelling and Punctuation (Capital letter, Period {.},
Question mark {?}, Exclamation mark {!}, Comma {,}, semi colon {;}, Apostrophe {}).
2.5 Stages in writing
Gardner and Johnson (1997) describe the stages of the writing process:
"Writing is a fluid process created by writers as they work. Accomplished writers move back
and forth between the stages of the process, both consciously and unconsciously. Young
writers, however, benefit from the structure and security of following the writing process in
their writing. Additionally, as Campbell points out, "there is no single writing process"
(1998: 10), there are three basic stages writers go through: prewriting, drafting, and revising.
Besides, three basic stages in writing also delivered by Ron White (1987:325) states
that the stages of writing process consists of planning, drafting, and revising. Planning is a
series of strategies designed to find and produce information in writing planning is any
orderly procedure used to bring about a desire result. In this stage, the author/writer just builds
basic of a topic that should depends on the writer/authors knowledge, ideas and experiences.
Drafting is a series strategy designed to organize and develop a sustained piece of
writing. In here, the writer can explore and improve his/her idea. This stage also concentrates
to the content tan punctuation, grammar, or spelling. Revising is a series of strategies
designed to re-examine and re-evaluate the choices that have created a piece of writing. The
revising always comes up after giving feedback to the writing. The feedback is important to
tell which the words/sentence should be changed or need correction. Revising writing can be
started by making decisions about how you want to improve your writing, looking at your
writing from a different point of view, and picking places where your writing could be clearer,
more interesting, more informative and more convincing to the reader.

Appelebe in Mappe (2000) states more complete stages, that there are different views
on the stages that the writers go through in producing a piece of writing, but a typically
through model identifies four stages: pre-writing, drafting, revising and editing.
The description of each stage is shown as follows:
1

Pre-writing
In this stage, students involve the activities, such as reading, brainstorming, mind

mapping, discussing, fast writing, questioning, interviewing, encourage them before they
write their sentences in the first draft. A typical pre-writing activity in the process approach
would be for learners to brainstorm on the topic being provided. By this way, students would
get motivation to write because they feel that they have something matter to say. (Richard &
White in Mappe, 2000).
2

Drafting
In this stage, students would select among ideas during pre-writing and structure. The

result of brainstorming session to provide a plan of description of topic. The content might be
written without considering the grammatical aspect first.

Revising
In this stage, the students review a draft to check content and organization based on the

feedback from him or herself and teacher or peers. Biaael in Mappe (2000) emphasizes that
revision is a process in which writers not only polish their style, but also develop their ideas.
In this stage, the teacher help the students through the revision to shape and reshape the text
into final form, and its focused more on audience, mood, voice, length, clarity, completeness
and consciousness.
4

Editing

This is where the role of teacher in giving indirect feedback will be applied. In this
stage, the students check their final text for some mistakes they have made based on the
feedback given, such as spelling, punctuation, grammar, and all presentation. Shih in Mappe
(2000) classifies three stages of editing for grammar: editing at discourse level, sentences
level and word level.
Editing at discourse level is meant the writer needs to make changes in one sentence,
such as making the subject plural instead of singular. Editing at sentence level is to find out
the errors in sentences, such as: phrase, clause and sentence pattern. Editing at word level,
editing morphological errors require checking to see that affixes and grammatical function
words, such as: auxiliary verb, articles and preposition correct. The writer needs to focus
his/her special attention on the ends of words in order to catch the missing of an incorrect
ending: s/es, d/ed, ing as well an awareness of different points of view.
2.6 Overview of Process in Descriptive Writing
There are some approaches in writing; one of them is genre based approach. The use
of genre approach in solving the problem in students writing, particularly in language use and
organization is very effective way. According to Derewianka (1992:17) a genre is kind of text
types that have structured in different way and characterized by own language feature. Genre
based approach can be said to make the text structurally and characterized which consists of
purpose, generic structure, and language feature.
According to Martin in Grabe and Kaplan (1996), the factual writing consists of six
types, they are; recount, procedure, description, report, explanation, and exposition. However
in this study, the text will be focused on the descriptive text.
Descriptive text is a text which says what a person or a thing is like or to provide
enough vivid detail to help the reader create a mental picture of what is being written about.
Descriptive text can be divided from its purpose, generic structure and language feature. The

purpose in descriptive writing is to engage a reader's attention, to create characters, to set a


mood or create an atmosphere, to bring writing to life, and also to help a writer develop an
aspect of their work, for example to create a particular mood, atmosphere or describe a place
so that the reader can create vivid pictures of characters, places, objects etc (Martin in Grabe
and Kaplan, 1996).
The generic structure of descriptive text are Identification; identifying the
phenomenon to be described in general and Description; describing the phenomenon in parts,
qualities, or/and characteristics. They may choose vivid, fresh language, they may use
examples, they might take something ordinary and by comparing it with something
extraordinary, make it interesting, or they may use their senses. (Medina,2003:152).
The language uses of this text should rely on precisely chosen vocabulary with
carefully chosen adjectives and adverbs, It is focused and concentrated only on the aspects
that add something to the main purpose of the description. Sensory description - what is
heard, seen, smelt, felt, tasted. Precise use of adjectives, similes, metaphors to create
images/pictures in the mind, Strong development of the experience that "puts the reader there"
focuses on key details, powerful verbs and precise nouns, Using attributive and identifying
process, Using adjective and classifiers in nominal group, and Using simple present tense
(Medina,2003:152).
2.7 Review of Related Studies
Some studies have been done to investigate the use of feedback on students writing in
teaching and learning process. Hasyim (2002), Paryatun (1997), Dewi Santi (2007) had
conducted their studies in Haluoleo University, to investigate the effect of teachers feedback
on students writing. Sri Luciani (2002) did her study in junior high school. Although she
investigated the effect of teacher feedback only focused on giving feedback in students
homework in general, and not focusing on students writing task.

Hasyim conducted the study by focusing on the effect of correction provided by


lecturer. In the procedure of giving correction in Hasyims study, the lecturer asked the
students to write about a given topic, and then asked one to ten students to write their essay on
the whiteboard, after that, the lecturer correcting students essay, and then, the lecturer asked
the students to rewrite their essay and finally collected the students essay. The result showed
that before lecturer gave the correction the total score was 48,22 and after lecturer gave the
correction, the total score was 77,36.
Furthermore, Paryatun (1997) conducted the study by showing us that either direct or
indirect correction does not improve students writing significantly. The writer exposed direct
correction technique in her experimental class and exposed indirect correction in the control
class. However, the writer did not also explain clearly why there was no significant different
between direct and indirect correction on students writing performance.
Dewi Santi investigated the effect of teachers feedback on students writing and found
that teachers feedback was effective. Moreover, Dewi Santi exposed teachers feedback
under correction and assessment (comment and grade), also suggestion and praise. He focused
giving feedback on students writing that would be assessed based on five aspect of
composition; content, organization, vocabulary, language use, and mechanics (Jacobs, 1981).
In the end the result showed an improvement of students writing. That was on pretest 74,2
and in post test was 78,15.
In a similar study, Lalande (1982) in Turkish University of pre-intermediate learners
with regards to what strategy to use in responding to students writing in the English
Preparatory Program compared two groups: one with direct feedback and the other with
indirect feedback using correction codes. It was found that the group which received indirect
coded error feedback had more accuracy than direct feedback in writing.

Those results of previous studies indicate that feedback both directly and indirectly are
effective approach to be used in improving students writing. But, another research proves that
indirect feedback is better than direct feedback. Hence, the present study will conduct the
study that is different with previous studies by using indirect feedback. In this case, the writer
not only wants to prove that the students writing performance will be better than direct
feedback but also indirect feedback as the way to solve the problem of students writing
performance.
Further, this study serves a different design from previous study because those studies
mostly focused on giving direct feedback to students writing or compared between direct and
indirect feedback. While this study only uses indirect feedback that is used to solve the
problem in two aspects of writing, those are organization and language use.

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