E-Mail Platform and Its Effects on Providing Corrective Feedback to EFL Students

The thrust of this mixed methods study is to explore the effect of using e-mail as a ubiquitous electronic platform for providing corrective feedback on EFL students‟ writing. The study also investigates the students‟ perceptions of using Computer- Assisted Language Learning. A total of 40 upper-intermediate EFL students ranging from 23 to 30 years of age selected through convenience sampling participated in this study. They were divided into two groups, an experimental group (N=20) who received CF through e-mail, and a control group (N=20) who experienced paper-and-pen CF. In this study, a pre-test/post-test (paired t-test) was run. Moreover, to obtain the students‟ overall performance and their performance in different writing components including content, organization, and language, a 6-point analytic rating scale was used. In addition, a structured interview was employed to investigate the students‟ perceptions about using CALL in the writing classroom. The findings of this study revealed that providing CF through the e-mail platform has a positive effect on overall writing performance of EFL students, and on such writing components as content, organization, and language. After being interviewed, the students expressed their positive attitudes towards the use of CALL in writing classroom, which may be one reason for the observed significant effect. The findings of this study highlight the important application of CALL materials in a blended learning environment in L2 writing context, which carries some implications for writing teachers.