EXPLORING THE ROLE OF FEEDBACK IN ENHANCING EFL STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC WRITING: A PHENOMENOLOGICAL STUDY OF FEEDBACK UTILIZATION STRATEGIES AND CHALLENGES
Keywords:
Feedback; Academic Writing; EFL Students; Feedback StrategiesAbstract
This study explored the role of feedback in improving EFL students’ academic writing by examining its functions, implementation strategies, and challenges from both students’ and lecturers’ perspectives. While previous studies have focused on feedback effectiveness and types, limited attention has been given to how students internalize and apply feedback through reflection and the challenges involved. This study employed a qualitative interpretive phenomenological approach and was conducted at Yogyakarta State University, specifically in the fourth-semester Academic Writing course of the English Language Education undergraduate program. The participants consisted of seven students and one lecturer. Data validity was ensured through triangulation. Data were collected through observation, interviews, and document analysis, including draft writings with feedback annotations, and were analyzed using thematic analysis. The results show that feedback enhances EFL students’ academic writing by improving accuracy and developing critical thinking, metacognitive awareness, and learner autonomy. It serves as both a corrective and developmental tool through interpretation, reflection, and revision using strategies such as categorization, self-reflection, peer collaboration, and digital tools. Despite improvements, challenges involving time, technical feedback comprehension, and emotional responses remained. Theoretically, this study extends EFL feedback literature by conceptualizing feedback as a learner-mediated process that integrates cognitive, metacognitive, affective, and contextual dimensions in academic writing development. Practically, the findings provide implications for designing more dialogic, reflective, and student-centered feedback practices that enhance feedback literacy and academic writing instruction in higher education.
References
Adizovna, S. M. (2023). Developing Summary Writing Skill in Academic Writing. 140–144.
Aldabbus, S., & Almansouri, E. (2022). Academic Writing Difficulties Encountered by University EFL Learners. British Journal of English Language Linguistics, 10(3), 1–11. https://doi.org/10.37745/bjel.2013/vol10n3111
Algburi, E. A., & Razali, A. B. (2022). Role of Feedback on English Academic Writing Skills of Tertiary Level Iraqi English as a Foreign Language (EFL) Students: A Review of Literature. International Journal of Academic Research in Progressive Education and Development, 11(1). https://doi.org/10.6007/ijarped/v11-i1/12168
Asnas, S. A. M., Mustofa, M., & Ubaidillah, M. F. (2022). Investigating Academic Writing in EFL Contexts: Students’ Voices on Complexities and Coping Strategies. Vision: Journal for Language and Foreign Language Learning, 11(2), 139–162. https://doi.org/10.21580/vjv12i116326
Carless, D., & Boud, D. (2018). The Development of Student Feedback Literacy: Enabling Uptake of Feedback. Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, 43(8), 1315–1325. https://doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2018.1463354
Carless, D., & Winstone, N. (2023). Teacher Feedback Literacy and Its Interplay with Student Feedback Literacy. Teaching in Higher Education, 28(1), 150–163. https://doi.org/10.1080/13562517.2020.1782372
Creswell, J. W. (2013). Qualitative and Quantitative Research Design. In Social Research Methodology (pp. 161–200). https://doi.org/10.4324/9781032624860-9
Fatima, N., Ehsan, M., Darazi, M. A., & Majeed, A. (2024). The Role of Feedback in Enhancing Creative Writing Skills in ELT Contexts. 6588(June), 350–368.
Fitriyah, I., Ningrum, A. S. B., & Gozali, I. (2023). An Investigation of Written Corrective Feedback in EFL Writing Assessment: How Teachers’ Feedback Practices Meet Students’ Expectations. International Journal of Language Testing, 14(1), 166–184. https://doi.org/10.22034/IJLT.2023.411616.1275
Hadiyanti, A. R. (2013). An Analysis of Teachers’ Written Feedbackin Writing Among the Grade VIII Studentsof SMP Negeri 5 Slemanin The Academic Year of 2012/2013. 192.
Hattie, J., & Timperley, H. (2007). The Power of Feedback. Review of Educational Research, 77(1), 81–112. https://doi.org/10.3102/003465430298487
Henderson, M., Ryan, T., Boud, D., Dawson, P., Phillips, M., Molloy, E., & Mahoney, P. (2021). The Usefulness of Feedback. Active Learning in Higher Education, 22(3), 229–243. https://doi.org/10.1177/1469787419872393
Henderson, M., Ryan, T., & Phillips, M. (2019). The Challenges of Feedback in Higher Education. Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, 44(8), 1237–1252. https://doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2019.1599815
Hyland, K., & Hyland, F. (2006). Feedback on Second Language Students’ Writing. Language Teaching, 39(2), 83–101. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0261444806003399
Kim, J., Yu, S., Detrick, R., & Li, N. (2024). Exploring Students’ Perspectives on Generative AI-Assisted Academic Writing. In Education and Information Technologies. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-024-12878-7
Kim, Y. J., & Emeliyanova, L. (2019). The Effects of Written Corrective Feedback on The Accuracy of L2 Writing: Comparing Collaborative and Individual Revision Behavior. Language Teaching Research, 25(2), 234–255. https://doi.org/10.1177/136216881931406
Nicol, D. (2020). The Power of Internal Feedback: Exploiting Natural Comparison Processes. Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, 46(5), 756–778. https://doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2020.1823314
Phothongsunan, S. (2023). EFL Student-Directed Feedback for Improving Academic Writing Skills in Thailand. Arab World English Journal, 14(1), 223–231. https://doi.org/10.24093/awej/vol14no1.14
Putri, S. F. (2021). Corrective Feedback on Writing Errors Made by Students.
Schillings, M., Roebertsen, H., Savelberg, H., & Dolmans, D. (2023). A Review of Educational Dialogue Strategies to Improve Academic Writing Skills. Active Learning in Higher Education, 24(2), 95–108. https://doi.org/10.1177/1469787418810663
Shang, H. F. (2019). Exploring Online Peer Feedback and Automated Corrective Feedback on EFL Writing Performance. Interactive Learning Environments, 30(1), 4–16. https://doi.org/10.1080/10494820.2019.1629601
Suastra, I. M., & Menggo, S. (2020). Empowering Students’ Writing Through Performance Assessment. International Journal of Language Education, 4(3), 432–441. https://doi.org/10.26858/ijole.v4i3.15060
Valero Haro, A., Noroozi, O., Biemans, H. J. A., Mulder, M., & Banihashem, S. K. (2023). How Does The Type of Online Peer Feedback Influence Feedback Quality, Argumentative Essay Writing Quality, and Domain-Specific Learning? Interactive Learning Environments, May, 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1080/10494820.2023.2215822
Wahyuni, W. T. (2023). The Implementation of Teachers’ Written Corrective Feedback in Teaching Writing at One of The Vocational High Schools in Pekanbaru. AT-TAWASSUTH: Jurnal Ekonomi Islam.
Wulandari, Y. (2022). Effective Feedback to Improve Students’ Writing Skills. English Education, Linguistics, and Literature Journal, 1(1), 10–17. https://jurnal.unupurwokerto.ac.id/index.php/educalitra
Yu, S. (2020). Giving Genre-Based Peer Feedback in Academic Writing: Sources of Knowledge and Skills, Difficulties and Challenges. Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, 46(1), 36–53. https://doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2020.1742872
Yu, S., Jiang, L., & Zhou, N. (2020). Investigating What Feedback Practices Contribute to Students’ Writing Motivation and Engagement in Chinese EFL Context: A Large Scale Study. Assessing Writing, 44(October 2019), 100451. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.asw.2020.100451
Yu, S., & Liu, C. (2021). Improving Student Feedback Literacy in Academic Writing: An Evidence-Based Framework. Assessing Writing, 48(June 2020), 100525. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.asw.2021.100525
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Nizar Syahputra Alfaris, Sukarno Sukarno
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
All works published in the Getsempena English Education Journal (GEEJ) are licensed & copyrighted under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. The editorial board of the GEEJ shares common vision with Universitas Bina Bangsa Getsempena as a Publisher in providing unrestricted access to knowledge and education for all and thereby follows Open Access Policy to showcase its content. The GEEJ follows open access copyright and licensing policy on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge.
Universitas Bina Bangsa Getsempena and the GEEJ adhere to a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. The authors submitting and publishing in the GEEJ agree to the copyright policy under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. Under this license, the authors published in the GEEJ retain the copyright, and all other authors using the content of the GEEJ are required to cite author(s) and publisher in their work.
