Working towards effective feedback: Exploring students’ perceptions of feedback given for their Dhivehi Writing in Higher Secondary Education

Abstract

This paper is based on a case study to investigate students’ perspectives of feedback given to support writing in Dhivehi in higher secondary education in the Maldives. The results revealed that the majority of the students were not satisfied with the feedback they received from their Dhivehi language teachers because of the ambiguity and vagueness of the feedback given to develop their writing. Oral feedback was only given to the whole class, focusing on the common errors in general. Students did not receive any individualized oral feedback to improve their writing, unless they asked for feedback. However, the few students who have sought oral feedback, and received constructive feedback, have shown progress in their writing. Therefore, this paper hopes to guide the teachers on how to improve the effectiveness of both oral and written feedback in Dhivehi writing instruction.