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Cultural Influences On Students' Perceptions of Written Feedback in L2 Writing
Cultural Influences On Students' Perceptions of Written Feedback in L2 Writing
FOREIGN
LANGUAGE
TEACHING &
LEARNING
Volume 3, No. 1, January 2018
Rahmah Fithriani
Cultural Influences on
is a lecturer at the department
of English educa�on, State Students’ Perceptions of
Islamic University of North
Sumatra. She received her Written Feedback in L2 Writing
doctorate in Language, Literacy,
and Sociocultural Studies from
University of New Mexico. Her
research interests include feed-
back in L2 wri�ng and the use of
L1 in L2 teaching & learning.
1-13
ABSTRACT
The influence of students’ culturally constructed view of the feedback process is a significant
topic of discussion in studies about feedback in L2 writing. Research has shown that hierarchical
relationship cultures and face-saving strategies have significant influence on students’ percep-
tions of feedback process in L2 writing, particularly in Asian societies. Aiming to investigate
whether these findings resonate in Indonesian EFL context, this qualitative study collected data
through writing drafts, reflective journals, question¬naires and interviews with seven students
who took an after-class writing course. Findings showed that students found teacher feedback
more valuable than peer feedback, which indicated the influence of hierarchical culture. Howev-
er, they were not concerned about practicing face-saving strategies to maintain group harmony
and cohesion, which is quite common to find in other Asian societies. This study suggested that
cultural influences, particularly face-saving strategies do not have as much influence on Indone-
sian EFL students’ perceptions of written feedback in L2 writing as those in other Asian EFL
students.
INTRODUCTION
Writing is one of the skills that is consid- among the most difficult skills to master as
ered to have an essential significance in it involves problem solving in addition to
second language (L2) learning because it the deployment of strategies to achieve
serves as both a tool for communication communicative goals (Graham, 2010; Kurt
and a means of learning, thinking, and & Atay, 2007). For L2 learners, the difficulty
organizing knowledge or ideas. Unfortu- in L2 writing is doubled because they need
nately, L2 learners have also considered to transfer ideas from their first language
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Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Learning Vol.3 No. 1, January 2018
into the target language and organize those Research investigating how cultural
ideas into new and different patterns than traits have significant bearing on students’
those in their first language (L1). These perceptions of feedback process in L2 writ-
challenges that learners encounter in L2 ing has reported different findings. Educa-
writing call for teachers and researchers to tional practice in cultures of hierarchical
find better ways for instructing writing. relationships places a great emphasis on
Providing feedback is one of the most “maintaining a hierarchical but harmoni-
appropriate ways of instruction to help L2 ous relation between teacher and student.
learners successfully learn a writing skill Students are expected to respect and not to
(Hyland & Hyland, 2006). challenge their teachers” (Hu, 2002, p. 98).
Thus, students from these cultures find
Research has shown that written feed- teacher feedback authoritative and tend to
back is a crucial part of the writing process incorporate all teacher comments in their
(Cohen & Cavalcanti, 1990). Many studies revision (Miao, Badger, & Zhen, 2006; Tsui
investigating the effect of written feedback & Ng, 2000). As a consequence, these
on students’ L2 writing have also indicated students are also more likely to have nega-
that written feedback process helps tive views of feedback from fellow students
students improve the quality of their writ- and be reluctant to incorporate peer feed-
ings (e.g. Chandler, 2003; Ferris, 2006; back in their writing (Carson & Nelson,
Jahin, 2012; Kamimura, 2006). However, 1994; Nelson & Carson, 1998). Interestingly,
few exist that focus on how feedback is Miao, Badger, and Zhen (2006) and Tsui
perceived by students. Ward, Grinstein, and Ng (2000) reported different findings
and Keim (2015) describe perception as the showing that learners from hierarchical
process of recognizing, organizing, and cultures value teacher feedback more
interpreting sensory information in order highly than peer feedback but still recog-
to give meaning to the environment. It is nize the importance of peer feedback. Fur-
sometimes distorted by a number of thermore, research findings showed that
aspects residing in the perceiver, in the students coming from collectivist cultures
object or target being perceived, or in the which are much practiced in Asian coun-
context of the situation in which the tries generally work toward maintaining
perception is made. Specifically, Lewis group harmony and mutual face-saving to
(2011) stated that aspects such as the cultur- maintain a state of cohesion (Carson &
al context have a profound influence on Nelson, 1996; Lee, 2008, Nelson & Carson,
that which is being perceived. Further- 1998). This means that peer feedback may
more, Carson and Nelson (1996) emphasize be less successful in a collectivist culture
that writing is a socially constructed act, because of students’ unwillingness to criti-
thus the pedagogical practices of writing cize others.
instruction often reflects the cultural values
in which it is being done. Considering the Given the importance of students’ cultural
relationship between culture, perception, influences on feedback processes in L2
and writing instruction, it can be assumed writing and the inconclusive findings of
that culture may play an important role in how cultural traits have significant bearing
shaping students’ perception of the effec- on students’ perceptions of feedback pro-
tiveness of feedback implementation in L2 cess in L2 writing, it is necessary to conduct
writing instruction. this study to further explore students’
perceptions of written feedback in L2
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Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Learning Vol.3 No. 1, January 2018
two reasons behind these results; firstbe- Furthermore, they stated that students of
cause the students believed that the teacher collectivist culture tend to practice
was more experienced, and second, they face-saving strategy in a group interaction
also viewed the teacher as a figure of to maintain cohesion and group harmony
authority whose words should be followed. among the group members.
These findings show how cultural values
shape students’ perceptions of the feedback The findings of both studies affirmed
they receive from teacher versus a peer. their argument. The analysis in the first
This is in accordance with the cultural study (Carson & Nelson, 1996) showed that
value of traditional Chinese education stat- the Chinese students’ reluctance in initiat-
ing that “students are expected to receive ing comments during group interactions.
and retain, with an open mind and without When they provided comments to their
preconceptions, the knowledge imparted peers, they monitored themselves carefully
by their teachers and textbooks” (Hu, 2002, to ensure they did not start conflict within
p. 100). the group. These findings supported their
hypothesis that the values of collectivist
The influence of hierarchical culture was society affected the Chinese students’ inter-
also highlighted by Miao, Badger, and action style. In the second study, Nelson
Zhen (2006) in their study. They argued and Carson (1998) compared Chinese and
that the power distance between teachers Spanish students’ perceptions of peer feed-
and students from hierarchical culture is back group. Although the analysis indicat-
‘problematic’ in the feedback process since ed that both the Chinese and the Span-
students are always expected to abide by ish-speaking students preferred the provi-
what the teachers say, and they are not sup- sion of negative comments showing their
posed to challenge the teachers and their mistakes, they were found to have different
opinions. They also explained that in Chi- views in terms of the needed amount and
nese society the Confucian cultures ascribe kind of talk in identifying the problems.
a lot of respect to teachers which students This study also reported contradictory
at all levels usually follow. finding from the Chinese students who
perceived problem-identification as the
Another cultural value which has been goal of peer feedback but were reluctant to
found to have an impact on feedback activi- identify and recognize them. In conclusion,
ties in L2 writing is face-saving strategy peer feedback in this study was less
which is much practiced in collectivist soci- successful for students of collectivist
eties. Carson and Nelson (1996; 1998) con- cultures because of unwillingness to criti-
ducted two studies investigating three Chi- cize others.
nese ESL students taking an advanced com-
position class in a US university interacted Some general features of Indonesian
and reacted in peer response groups. Since culture
Chinese people practice collectivist culture
in which the primary goal of the group is to Hofstede and Hofstede (2005) explained
maintain the relationships that constitute that people living in the same social envi-
the group, they argued that writing groups ronment at least partly share the same
used in composition classes in the United culture, thus it is known as a collective
States might be problematic for Chinese phenomenon. Culture includes some
students because of the cultural differences. aspects, such as: language, art, and social
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Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Learning Vol.3 No. 1, January 2018
activity, and interaction (Tabalujan, 2008). The teacher is seen to be a moral authori-
Since classroom context reflects a social ty and students are expected to defer to all
unit within the larger unit of a society their superiors, including teachers. Teach-
(Maulana, Helms-Lorenz, Irnidayanti, & ers are also viewed as the fountain of
van de Grif, W, 2016), culture, thus plays an knowledge – while knowledge is viewed as
important role in pedagogical practices, a more or less fixed set of facts to be trans-
including in L2 writing classrooms. mitted and digested by thirsty learners,
later to be regurgitated in test (a deficit
The influence of culture in L2 writing is model of learning). (Lewis as cited in
also highlighted by Tickoo (1995) who Novera, 2004, p. 478)
argued that one of the differentiating char-
acteristics of L2 writing instruction in ESL One related aspect of hierarchical
and EFL contexts is how cultures influence culture is the concept of power distance,
the pedagogical practices in classrooms. which can be defined as a measure of inter-
This is particularly significant in most personal influence between two persons
Asian societies which are heirs to rich and (Hofstede, 1980). An example of a large
established cultures and traditions. In addi- power distance in educational settings is
tion, research also shows that L2 writing that between a teacher and a student,
pedagogy in EFL context especially that in which is much found in Indonesian class-
Asia, is confronted by the issue of culture, rooms. Teachers are viewed as the holders
which plays a critical role in effective L2 of knowledge which is passed on to the
writing instruction (Bhowmik, 2009). students. Thus, it could be assumed that
Among the issues of culture that influence students of large power distance countries
the effectiveness of L2 writing instruction like Indonesia tend to have less value on
as reported in some research findings are their peers’ opinions than students from
the hierarchical relationship between countries with a lower power distance do.
teachers and students (e.g., Miao, Badger,
& Zhen, 2006; Scollon, 1999; Tsui & Ng, Indonesia is also known as a collectivist
2000) and collectivist society that practices society that put the importance of a group
face-saving strategy to maintain group in a higher position than that of an individ-
harmony (Carson & Nelson, 1996; Lee, ual (Hofstede & Hofstede, 2005). The inter-
2008, Nelson & Carson, 1998). actions within Indonesian society show a
high contact among its members who
The two cultural values of hierarchical express a substantial amount of interper-
relationship and collectivist society are also sonal closeness (Hall, 1966) and emphasize
found in Indonesian cultures. Hierarchy is conformity, social harmony, and family
considered very important in Indonesian interdependence (Chao & Tseng, 2002;
society, in which ople's status should be Uchida & Ogihara, 2012). For this reason,
respected at all times. The teacher–student saving face strategy is a very important
relationship in Indonesian classrooms practice. Indonesian students tend to be
reflects this hierarchical structure suggest- reluctant to ask questions to their teacher
ing obedience to higher authority figures during classroom activities, even when
(Maulana et al, 2016). Teachers are the ones they are invited to do so. This is a strategy
who are responsible for managing order commonly used to avoid showing an
and neatness in classrooms and students attitude of challenging teacher’s authority
are expected to follow their rules : or/and demonstrating one’s arrogance or
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Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Learning Vol.3 No. 1, January 2018
ignorance – to risk the possibility of pun- the initial coding stage, the findings from
ishment or personal humiliation (loss of pre-coding stage were transferred to a table
social face)” (Lewis as cited in Novera, sheet in a Microsoft Word file. All signifi-
2004, p. 478). To maintain class harmony cant quotes and passages were labeled as
and cohesion, students tend to practice ‘data extract,’ which was further analyzed
mutual face-saving strategy by avoiding at the sentence level for coding and tempo-
debates and confrontation when interact- rary categorizing. The findings from this
ing with other class members. Thus, peer stage of coding were later analyzed again
feedback could be a problem in Indonesian in the final coding stage. This process was
classes since it may be difficult for Indone- iterative before reasonable saturation for
sian students to provide negative feedback categories and sub categories could be
on their peers’ writings. They probably say reached.
what they think the writers want to hear
rather than what might be helpful. Thus, it The writing course
is interesting to find out whether the
cultures of hierarchical relationship and This study was conducted in an
face-saving strategy in Indonesian society after-class writing course consisting of
also influence the L2 writing pedagogical seven meeting in total. Each meeting was
practices in Indonesia EFL context, as divided into two sessions, with one session
reported in other EFL contexts in Asian lasting for one hour (see Table 1). During
society. the course, students completed two writing
tasks of argumentative essay; agree &dis-
METHODS agree and comparison & contrast. Further-
more, as part of the writing tasks, students
This study applied a qualitative case completed a sequential series of tasks
study approach. Using purposive sampling including writing the first draft of an essay,
technique, the researcher recruited seven providing written feedback on peers’
6th sixth semester students majoring in essays, revising the draft after written feed-
English Education at a state university in back sessions, and producing the final draft
Medan, Indonesia. Data for this study were of the essay. In an effort to get the maxi-
collected through a variety of instruments mum benefits of peer feedback in this
including writing drafts, reflective journals, study, the first meeting of the writing
questionnaires, and interview, to ensure course was used to introduce peer feedback
that nuances of students’ perceptions in through the ALA (Academic Literacy for
every stage of written feedback process All) Protocol (Mahn & Bruce, 2010) and
were captured. train the students how to give feedback on
an essay
Thematic content analysis with three
coding stages was used as the main data
analysis. In the first stage of coding, signifi-
cant quotes and passages on the copies of
all reflective journals and written feedback
surveys were manually coded using color
pencils. The initial findings were then
recorded in researcher’s note as guidance
in preparing the interview questions. In
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Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Learning Vol.3 No. 1, January 2018
back, they confirmed its usefulness in was used in revisions. This discrepancy of
absolute but the usefulness of peer feed- feedback incorporation was also admitted
back with reservations. In the students’ by students as highlighted in the following
words, teacher feedback was ‘very,” “defi- excerpts:
nitely,” or “totally” useful while peer feed-
back was ‘‘basically,’’ ‘‘sometimes’’ or I took 50% of comments from my peer
“less” useful. This different acceptance of because I think [only] 50% of the comments
written feedback can be seen in the excerpt are right and useful for my essay… Most of
below: the comment I have from teacher feedback,
90% of comments I took because I think the
I think teacher feedback is worthier than comments from teacher’s feedback is really
peer feedback. It was really helpful and helpful. (Excerpt 5, Written Feedback
very detailed in all aspects from grammar, Survey)
idea, to the conclusion were commented by
the instructor. (Excerpt 3, Interview) I used 40% of my peer feedback in my
revision. I do that because I think the
The student quoted in excerpt 3 correction is wrong… I used 80% (of teach-
explained the usefulness of teacher feed- er feedback) in my essay because I think my
back by using the word “very” to intensify teacher has more knowledge than me.
the degree of how helpful and detailed the (Excerpt 6, Written Feedback Survey)
teacher’s comments she received. Further-
more, she praised teacher feedback on all Both students quoted in excerpts 5 and 6
aspects of writing which shows her trust in admitted of using much higher teacher
teacher’s knowledge and competence. feedback than peer feedback in their revi-
Meanwhile another student (quoted in sions. Despite their different reasons for
excerpt 4) used the word “enough’ which is doing so, the fact that they incorporated
a lower degree of intensifier when talking more teacher than peer feedback also indi-
about the quality of peer feedback that she cated that they value teacher feedback
received. She also only praised one particu- more.
lar aspect of writing, in this case grammar
where she thought her peer was competent In summary, students gave more credits
to comment about. to teacher comments more than peer com-
ments. In this case, students have higher
About 50% [of peer feedback was used confidence in teacher feedback which
in revisions], because I think my friend’s resulted in higher percentage of teacher
suggestions are good enough, especially feedback incorporation in revisions. How-
about grammar. (Excerpt 4, Written Feed- ever, it should be noted that student valued
back Survey) both teacher and peer feedback although
with different levels of confirmation Theme
The last indication that students valued two: Claiming authority as feedback pro-
teacher feedback more than peer feedback viders and receivers. Another principle in
is the different amount of teacher and peer hierarchical culture is the high-power
feedback incorporation. As seen in figure 1, distance between teachers and students.
students incorporated higher percentage of Thus, educational practice in cultures of
teacher feedback (86%) in their revisions, hierarchical relationships places a great
meanwhile for peer feedback, only 69% emphasis on “maintaining a hierarchical
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Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Learning Vol.3 No. 1, January 2018
but harmonious relation between teach- gestions. I took one but ignored the other
er and student. Students are expected to because I think the suggestion [which was
respect and not to challenge their teachers” ignored] was not applicable in my writing.
(Hu, 2002, p. 98). In addition, Indonesians The other I think was acceptable although a
as collectivist society also practice face-sav- little bit difficult to make it flow with my
ing strategy to maintain cohesion and sentences, with my idea. I admitted the first
group harmony among the group mem- comment was good, but if I kept using it in
bers. my revision…what can I say…the idea
didn’t flow so I had to rewrite everything.
However, the data analysis demonstrat- (Excerpt 7, Interview)
ed that despite the high-power distance
between teachers and students and the When serving as feedback provider,
practice of face-saving strategy in Indone- students did also not hesitate to give com-
sian society, the students in this study were ments on her peers’ drafts which was
not hesitant to claim their authority as feed- shown in their statements like, “I provided
back receivers and feedback providers. as much feedback as necessary, “I gave
When receiving feedback from teacher and feedback based on one’s understanding,”
peers, students were not reluctant to voice “I gave feedback to help improve peer’s
their disagreement and reject the feedback essay,” “I did not hold back when giving
for personal reasons such as “I don’t think criticism,” and “I believe that the writers
the comments are correct,” I dissatisfied will not be offended with my feedback.”
with the feedback provided,”. In addition, Those statements indicate that students
as the writers, they were also aware that realized that being a feedback provider
they were the decision makers in deciding allowed them to speak as a teacher might.
what comments to incorporate or ignore in They also knew that the purpose of their
their revisions. They rejected the feedback giving comments on peers’ drafts was to
using some reasons such as “the original state their opinions on what peers needed
draft is better,” “suggestions/revisions to do to improve their writings. When pro-
changed the intended meaning,” and viding criticism, they also did not hold
“feedback interfered with writer’s voice back just because of not wanting to hurt
and style. In the interaction below (Excerpt anyone’s feelings. As a result, students in
7), the student showed how he claimed his this study were not concerned with main-
authority as the writer of the essay. taining group harmony and practicing
Although he confirmed the quality of the face-saving strategies.
feedback, he rejected to use it in his revision
because he saw this contribution as intru- As long as I think it is necessary, I will
sive. It can be said that students valued give feedback on my peers’ drafts. Because
teacher feedback and confirmed its quality, I believe that my friends know that I had no
but it was not necessarily for them to agree- intention to insult or offend them. I person-
with and incorporate it in their writings. ally also expected that my friends be honest
to me when giving feedback. When they
Interviewer: In your reflective journal, you think it’s good, they can praise it. When
wrote that you took only 50% of teacher they think it’s not good, they can criticize it.
feedback. Why? Even when they think my essay was good,
I still expected them to provide me much
Student: The teacher gave me only two sug- feedback. (Excerpt 8, Interview)
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Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Learning Vol.3 No. 1, January 2018
The interview excerpt above clearly that power distance did not have any
illustrates that the student’s only intention significant influence in students’ percep-
was to help her peers improve their writing tions of written feedback.
by not holding anything back when provid-
ing feedback. She furthermore explained The second finding showing students’
that she expected the same treatment from willingness to criticize peers’ writings and
her peers. This indicated that she was not to voice their disagreement with peers’
concerned about practicing face-saving comments is quite the contrary of Carson
strategies to maintain harmony with her and Nelson’s (1996). The results of their
peers by subordinating honesty to polite- study showed that that “the Chinese
ness. students’ primary goal for the groups was
social-to maintain group harmony-and that
DISCUSSION this goal affected the nature and types of
interaction they allowed themselves in
The finding showing that the students group discussions” (p. 1). They further-
valued teacher feedback more than peer more described some characteristics of the
feedback is in line with those of Miao, Chinese students’ interactions: (1) reluc-
Badger, and Zhen’s (2006) and Tsui and tance to criticize drafts because they
Ng’s (2000). Miao, Badger, and Zhen (2006) thought might be hurtful to other group
reported that the students in their study members; (2) reluctance to disagree with
“value teacher feedback more highly than peers because it would create conflicts
peer feedback but recognize the impor- within the group.
tance of peer feedback” (p. 193). Similar to
this, Tsui and Ng (2000) found out that It can be assumed that such different
their students favored teacher comments. findings between this study and that of
They furthermore explained that the Carson and Nelson (1996) may lie in three
reasons were because the students thought reasons; (1) students’ understanding of the
that “the teacher was more experienced written feedback purpose; and (2) the
and a figure of authority and that teacher's nature of feedback interactions. In the
comments guaranteed quality” (p. 160). beginning of this study, the students were
introduced to the concept of written feed-
Two among the reasons, namely: “the back through the ALA protocol. Through
teacher was more experienced” and” the this activity, students got a very good
teacher's comments guaranteed quality” understanding of the purpose of peer feed-
were also mentioned by the students in this back throughout the composing process
study to explain why they valued more that is to help improve the quality of the
teacher feedback. Interestingly, the other writing and develop writing skills of both
reason saying that the teacher was a figure feedback receivers and providers. They
of authority whose words should be characterized their interactions in the peer
followed did not seem to be a reason. feedback activities as task oriented. They
Although hierarchical societies tend to focused on providing comments that
accept more power distance, including the helped improve their peers’ essays and
distance between a teacher and a student, viewed the social dimension of maintain-
the students did not hesitate to disregard ing the state of cohesion as subordinate to
teacher’s suggestions and to voice their the task dimension. Thus, although Indone-
disagreement with them. This indicates sians belong to a collectivist society which
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Journal of Foreign Language Teaching & Learning Vol.3 No. 1, January 2018
practices face-saving strategies to main- received from teacher and peers. However,
tain cohesion and group harmony among providing students with a fundamental
the group members, the students’ mutual understanding of the purpose of feedback
understanding of the written feedback pur- activities through the ALA protocol
pose in this study seemed successful to seemed successful in minimizing those
prevent them practicing those strategies influences. With some adjustment to
which may not work toward the fulfillment accommodate the different contexts of
of the purpose. where it is implemented, teachers who
would like to incorporate peer feedback in
Another speculation to explain the con- their teaching practice could also make use
trast findings is that the nature of interac- the ALA protocol to introduce the students
tions between students in Carson and Nel- with the concept of peer feedback.
son’s (1996) study was different from that
in this study. In the former, students pro- This study might lead to similar research
vided feedback through discussions in studies that may collectively provide a
groups of three or four consisting of speak- more extensive framework for understand-
ers of different mother tongues. In the ing cultural influences on Indonesian EFL
latter, students worked in pairs or groups students’ perceptions of written feedback
to provide written feedback on drafts. This in L2 writing. The replication of this study
means that students in this study did not in a formal classroom setting with a larger
involve in face-to-face interactions where size of participants could be conducted to
the feedback provider would look at the increase the generalizability of the results.
face of the writer when giving suggestions Furthermore, since this study involved
or criticism. Furthermore, face-to-face written feedback only, it might be interest-
interactions would also allow the feedback ing to investigate whether there are similar-
provider to read the feedback receiver’s ities or differences in terms of cultural
emotions through verbal and nonverbal influences in the combination of written
cues, such as facial expression, which and oral feedback in L2 writing.
perhaps could be a factor that made
students of collectivist society practice face
saving strategies in peer feedback to main- REFERENCES
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interactions in this study might make it Bhowmik, S. K. (2009). L2 writing pedagogy
easier for students to be as honest as possi- in EFL contexts: An exploration of salient
ble when providing feedback. practices in teaching and learning. The Jour-
nal of Asia TEFL, 6(3), 351-373.
CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION Carson, J. G., & Nelson, G. L. (1996). Chinese
students' perceptions of ESL peer feedback
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