Abstract:
As a productive skill, writing plays a key role in communication. It is, however, regarded as a
difficult skill, particularly in second language contexts where many students encounter challenges in
writing. Effectiveness of the written corrective feedback on improving accuracy and overall quality
of students’ ultimate written production needs to be investigated further. Most of the existing
literature have drawn conclusions by comparing the effectiveness of both the direct corrective and
indirect corrective feedback. In this context, the present study only investigates the impact of direct
written corrective feedback on composition writing, and argues that it can have a potentially
significant impact in ESL writing. Besides, it also identifies that further research is required to get
more nuanced and representative assessment of the effectiveness of the above feedback. This study
was carried out among 58 participants of secondary students of Jaffna Central College, involving pre
and posttests along with focus group interviews. The intervention of providing feedback lasted ten
weeks, and feedback was given on all type of errors. The study found that direct corrective feedback
did not generate a statistically significant impact on composition writing. However, it produced a
statistically significant impact on the components of syntax and tenses and mechanics of writing. The
focus group interviews reveal that the participants prefer to receive direct written feedback from their
teachers.
