TEACHER FEEDBACK TO ENHANCE
ACADEMIC WRITING SKILLS ON
HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS
COMENTARIOS DE LOS PROFESORES PARA MEJORAR
LAS HABILIDADES DE ESCRITURA ACADÉMICA EN
ESTUDIANTES DE SECUNDARIA
Lic. Rita Inés Intriago Marcillo
Universidad Laica Eloy Alfaro de Manabí
John Roberth Cedeño Intriago
Servicios Transaccionales Banco de Pichincha
Mg. Nancy María Intriago Marcillo
Unidad Educativa Dr. José Vicente Luque
Lic. Germán Wenceslao Carrera
Universidad Laica Eloy Alfaro de Manabí
Ing. Yenny Rosana Bravo Villamar
Unidad Educativa Monserrate Álava de González
Lic. Cerjio Liserio Chinga Mantilla
Unidad Educativa Eugenio Espejo
pág. 6337
DOI: https://doi.org/10.37811/cl_rcm.v8i5.14053
Teacher Feedback to Enhance Academic Writing Skills on
High School Students
Lic. Rita Inés Intriago Marcillo
1
inesitathebest_72@hotmail.es
https://orcid.org/0009-0001-6798-6148
Universidad Laica Eloy Alfaro de Manabí
Extensión Chone
John Roberth Cedeño Intriago
johncedeo171094@hotmail.es
https://orcid.org/0009-0000-5223-9249
Ejecutivo de Servicios Transaccionales
Banco de Pichincha
Mg. Nancy María Intriago Marcillo
nancintriago@hotmail.com
https://orcid.org/0009-0006-0911-8787
Unidad Educativa
Dr. José Vicente Luque
Lic. Germán Wenceslao Carrera
german.carrera@uleam.edu.ec
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4974-5615
Universidad Laica Eloy Alfaro de Manabí
Extensión Chone
Ing. Yenny Rosana Bravo Villamar
jen01bravo@hotmail.es
https://orcid.org/0009-0004-1457-7588
Unidad Educativa
Monserrate Álava de González
Lic. Cerjio Liserio Chinga Mantilla
cerjiochinga@hotmail.com
https://orcid.org/0009-0003-9595-0059
Unidad Educativa
Eugenio Espejo
ABSTRACT
Among language skills, writing is of paramount importance for reaching academic success. Therefore,
teachers should prepare activities for students to develop. Feedback becomes one fundamental aspect
of guiding students while writing. A study on first-year high school students, from Monserrate Alava
de Gonzalez in Bolivar Canton, revealed that they have problems while producing pieces of academic
writing. They are focused on paragraph structures and diverse types of sentences, paragraphs, and
connectors. The present research has as a main objective the elaboration of a strategy to foster teachers´
feedback to enhance student´s academic writing in High School. Therefore, the scope of it covers the
teaching-learning process of English as a foreign language at this level of education. To develop the
investigation these methods are used: teacher interviews, observations of English lessons, and survey
of students for data collection. The expert criterion method is used to obtain evidence about the validity
of the strategy. The results obtained reveal that feedback is insufficiently used to assess students´
academic writing. This is one of the causes of the occurrence of mistakes in students´ writing. The
interviews with experts sustain that the strategy proposed is valid to be applied and can improve
students´ writing.
Keywords: feedback, TEFL, teaching-learning process, academic writing, strategy
1
Autor principal
Correspondencia: inesitathebest_72@hotmail.es
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Comentarios de los Profesores para Mejorar las Habilidades de escritura
Académica en Estudiantes de Secundaria
RESUMEN
Entre las habilidades lingüísticas, la escritura es de suma importancia para alcanzar el éxito académico.
Por lo tanto, los docentes deben preparar actividades para que los estudiantes las desarrollen. La
retroalimentación se convierte en un aspecto fundamental para guiar a los estudiantes mientras escriben.
Un estudio realizado con estudiantes de primer año de secundaria, de Monserrate Álava de González,
en el cantón Bolívar, reveló que tienen problemas a la hora de producir escritos académicos. Se centran
en estructuras de párrafos y diversos tipos de oraciones, párrafos y conectores. La presente investigación
tiene como objetivo principal la elaboración de una estrategia para fomentar la retroalimentación
docente para mejorar la escritura académica de los estudiantes de secundaria. Por tanto, el alcance del
mismo abarca el proceso de enseñanza-aprendizaje del inglés como lengua extranjera en este nivel
educativo. Para desarrollar la investigación se utilizan estos métodos: entrevistas a docentes,
observaciones de lecciones de inglés y encuesta a estudiantes para la recolección de datos. El método
del criterio de expertos se utiliza para obtener evidencia sobre la validez de la estrategia. Los resultados
obtenidos revelan que la retroalimentación se utiliza insuficientemente para evaluar la escritura
académica de los estudiantes. Esta es una de las causas de la aparición de errores en la escritura de los
estudiantes. Las entrevistas con expertos sostienen que la estrategia propuesta es válida para ser aplicada
y puede mejorar la escritura de los estudiantes.
Palabras clave: retroalimentación, TEFL, proceso de enseñanza-aprendizaje, escritura académica,
estrategia
Artículo recibido 08 agosto 2024
Aceptado para publicación: 10 septiembre 2024
pág. 6339
INTRODUCTION
Studies about the development of writing skills have been the center of attention in numerous works
related to the teaching of English as a foreign language (TEFL). It is regarded as a complex activity
requiring care and effort both on the part of the student and the teacher. Within this ability, academic
writing is a formal style of writing used in universities and scholarly publications. It follows the same
writing process as other types of texts, but it has specific content, structure, and style demands.
According to Pearce (2022), writing includes a formal tone, use of the third person rather than the first
person, a clear focus on the research problem under investigation, and precise word choice. Language
is adapted to different professions, such as law, physics, or medicine. Therefore, academic writing is
designed to convey agreed meaning about complex ideas or concepts within a community of scholarly
experts and practitioners. Gagné (1985) states that teachers have given importance to providing
feedback and begun to follow a process approach through which they have the chance to interfere with
students writing and guide them with their feedback to make them better writers.
Thus, feedback is a process in which the teacher and the students work together to reach success in
learning. Authors like Ab Hamid and Romly (2020), AbuSa’aleek and Shariq (2021), Trang and Anh
(2022), and Wulandari (2022) state that teachers comprehend the paramount importance of providing
meaningful feedback to the students. They are engaged in feedback practices almost every day. It
supports students’ progress, building learning, and thereby closing the breach between where a student
is and where the teacher wants them to be.
Giving feedback to students’ pieces of writing has been a customary practice for many years and many
studies have already been conducted to search for the effectiveness of teacher feedback (Alexeeva,
2012; Chalmers et al., 2017; Henderson et al., 2019). Some studies point to the usefulness of corrective
feedback to improve the language level of the papers (Mallia, 2017; Sritrakarn. 2018; Schillings et al.,
2023).
A recent study carried out at Monserrate Alava de Gonzalez in Bolivar Canton, by applying interviews
with teachers, surveys of students, and observation to lessons, revealed some academic writing
weaknesses in first-year high school students. They make mistakes while producing pieces of academic
writing.
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These mistakes are mainly focused on the paragraph structure, due to their lack of knowledge about
types of sentences, paragraphs, grammatical spelling and punctuation errors, word choice,
argumentation, and selection of the content. The previous scientific facts sustain that studies related to
the topic have been insufficiently applied and contextualized to the teaching-learning of English in high
school students in Monserrate Alava de Gonzalez in Bolivar Canton.
Based on this situation, the problem statement of this research is declared as, how to foster teachers’
feedback to enhance high school students’ academic writing skills? It will provide an innovative
solution to the stated problem, expanding and improving the existing results about the use of feedback
for developing writing skills. The population for this research consisted of 60 teachers and 1,503
students from Monserrate Alava de González School. The sample includes 50 first-year students and 8
teachers of English.
The main objective of this article is to elaborate a strategy to foster teachers’ feedback to enhance
academic writing skills in first-year high school students from Monserrate Alava de Gonzalez in Bolivar
Canton. The study took place from January 2023 to December 2023. The research summarizes the
fundamentals of academic writing and feedback as a pedagogical tool for the TEFL and applies them
as essential bases for the construction of the strategy proposed in the article.
Literature Review
The learning process usually includes a teaching mediation and a student response. Following this,
feedback is provided about an aspect of the student’s response. The feedback must be used to inform
teaching and learning choices and to readjust strategies if it is needed. Teachers need to include
opportunities in their classrooms to elicit student thinking and understanding.
The topic regarding feedback has been investigated by different authors such as: Hattie and Timperley,
(2007), Parr and Timperley, (2010), Van den Bergh et al (2014), Ab Hamid and Romly (2020),
AbuSa’aleek, and Shariq (2021), Trang and Anh (2022), and Wulandari (2022). All of them agree that
teacher feedback is a fundamental aspect of learning. Par and Timperley (2010) and Heitink et al (2016)
claim that effective feedback should focus on moving learning forward, targeting the activity, and
subject, and on self-regulation strategies. These authors also sustain that teachers are often required to
interpret information about learning and to provide feedback at the moment, with little time for
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reflective analysis. Research suggests that a teacher’s level of pedagogical knowledge and content
knowledge can advance their ability to provide useful feedback.
There are some important hints to follow to ensure effective feedback in the classroom: teachers setting
the learning goals, teachers including opportunities in their classrooms for gathering evidence about
student understanding and progress towards the set goals, teachers understanding which strategies
support learning and when they may need to adapt or change their strategies and using feedback to
stimulate improved learning and to contribute to student engagement and self-regulation. It also enables
a teacher to see how teaching practice can be improved, and which teaching and learning strategies are
more likely to be effective (Par and Timperley, 2010).
Feedback is structurally treated according to Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory (1978). His theory views
feedback as critical and labels it as “scaffolding” for students. The student and the teacher are constantly
negotiating meaning by exchanging information. With the teacher’s guidance, the learners can
recognize several issues and errors in their writing, Aljaafreh and Lantolf (1994).
Over the years there has been a great debate around how best to approach feedback, with many
disagreements over the best method of providing it. Written and verbal methods are regularly pitted
against each other, but the evidence suggests that positive feedback lies in the way in which it is carried
out. Many researchers indicate that effective feedback tends to focus on the task, subject, and self-
regulation strategies. The evidence also advocates that there is no perfect time to deliver feedback and
teachers should identify suitable opportunities to respond to students’ work.
Teacher feedback examples come in a variety of forms. It can be verbal, physical, and marking, among
others. Any form of feedback should start with clarifying learning intentions and success criteria to be
assessed. This helps to measure students’ performance against their learning. Progress, effective
teachers´ feedback informs the learner on the progress they’re making towards the success criteria.
There is a useful three-question model provided by Aljaafreh and Lantolf (1994), to consider when it
comes to dealing with feedback: Where am I going? How am I going to get there? Where am I going
next?
The teacher must keep in mind the following principles to achieve effective feedback on their students:
feedback is timely, precise, and feeds forward. Thus, the purpose of feedback is to allow students to
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improve. This means that teachers have to think carefully about how to achieve this and plan how
students will receive and use feedback.
Feedback is still one of the most fundamental aspects of any writing classroom although it is time-
consuming and requires a lot of effort. Among all the language abilities, writing as a productive skill is
crucial for high school students to develop appropriate writing skills to gain academic success.
Developing academic writing skills is one of the main objectives in the English lessons of first-year
students from Monserrate Alava de González School.
Carless and Boud (2018), Chalmers et al. (2017), Dann (2018), and Sritrakarn (2018) have established
the real value of feedback for students in the development of academic writing skills. As feedback plays
a powerful role in learning, it is an essential tool for improving academic writing practice stimulating
students´ responsibility in their learning process and for becoming self-regulated learners.
Different authors such as Gillett, Alexander, Argent Spencer; and Davis quoted by Sritrakarn (2018)
considered that academic writing is a piece of writing that communicates ideas, information, and
research to the wider academic community. It is the kind of writing used in high school and college
classes. It can be divided into two types: student academic writing, which is used as a form of assessment
at university, as well as at schools as preparation for university study; and expert academic writing,
which is a type of writing intended for publication in an academic journal or book. Both types are
expected to achieve the same standards, which can be difficult for students to master.
The characteristics of academic writing that distinguish it from other forms of writing are structure,
evidence, criticism, balance, precision, objectivity, and formality. In academic writing, the following
six general points should be taken into consideration while writing academic papers. These are the
audience, purpose, organization, style, flow, and presentation. Another key aspect is that a student needs
to follow specific rules and guidelines on how to quote, paraphrase, and summarize texts. Also, it is
needed to provide in-text citations and follow the reference and style guide according to the writers’
field. The most common types of academic writing are essays, research summaries, journals, book
reviews, syntheses, and reviews of literature.
The previous literature systematization allows the author of this paper to assess the importance of
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teachers’ feedback to enhance academic writing skills in high school students to reach academic
success. Consequently, it will develop students’ better communication in the English language.
METHODOLOGY
This research is carried out with a mixed approach that integrates both empirical and theoretical
methods. To develop the research, the following scientific research methods described by Hernández
(2014) are assumed: interviews with teachers, surveys of students, and observations of English lessons.
Questionnaires are used to operationalize the interview and the survey.
The investigation departed from the application of an exploratory study. It was administered using a
test to the students to determine their actual state of academic writing skills. The test consisted of asking
the students to write an essay about different topics discussed in the English lessons. Also, a survey was
administered to the students to collect data on students’ impact on teachers’ feedback in the English
writing lessons. The survey was applied in Spanish through written questions so they could select their
answers. Observations of lessons were also carried out to identify how teachers provide feedback in the
English writing lessons.
The interview with teachers on the topic was carried out with the following objectives: collecting data
about different ways of providing feedback to students in the academic writing lessons and identifying
common mistakes students commit while producing pieces of academic writing. The systemic-
structural-functional method was used for the elaboration of the strategy. At the empirical level, the
expert criterion was also used to obtain a first approximation of the feasibility and possible validity of
the proposal. The population of this research consisted of teachers and students from Monserrate Alava
de González School. It covers 1,503 students and 60 teachers. The sample consisted of 50 first-year
Baccalaureate students and 8 teachers of English.
Table 1. Sample Taken for the Investigation
Class
Women
Men
Total
FIRST B
16
8
24
FIRST C
10
16
26
TEACHERS
5
3
8
TOTAL
31
27
58
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RESULTS
The results obtained from the application of the test administered to the students are the following: 15
% of the students researched satisfactory results on their academic pieces of writing, 60% reached fairly
good results, and 25 % reached not good results on their writings. The most common mistakes
committed by the students are described in the table below:
Table 2. Mistakes Made by the Students
Class
Spelling
Grammatical
Structures
Punctuation
Format
Word
Choice
Argumentation
Selection
of
Content
First B
(24 sts)
24
12
10
7
12
12
6
First C
(26 sts)
26
16
8
9
14
10
4
Description of the student’s most common mistakes
Spelling: The most frequent mistakes were the substitution of b and c, instead of v or s. The incorrect
spelling of the following words: devalop instead of develop, throuh instead of through, knowladge
instead of knowledge, thingking instead of thinking, and conclud instead of conclude.
Grammatical structures: The most frequent mistakes were subject-verb agreement, singular–plural,
double-verb, missing verbs, and nouns, use of pronouns, incorrect use of the present perfect and passive
voice, and use of double subject.
Punctuation: Some students did not place a full stop at the end of a sentence. Some others put space
before a comma or full stop.
Format: Some students do not use the correct format for the elaboration of an essay. In the end, they
create something that does not look authentic.
Word choices: The most frequent mistakes were the use of words with similar sounds but different
meanings: affect- effect, affective-effective, principal-principle, access-assess, the usage of words with
similar meanings but different connotations: infer-imply, among-between, amount-number and the use
of incorrect word stem with the wrong prefix or suffix: determinated-determined, instableness-
instability, inaccurateness-inaccuracy.
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Argumentation: Not enough research, vague thesis statement, no supporting arguments, and clumsy
conclusions
Selection of the content: Insufficient selection of the content for supporting ideas, lack of argumentative
ideas.
The following results were obtained from the application of the survey to the students: 65% considered
important the use of teacher’s feedback in the development of academic writing lessons, 25 %
considered it sometimes important, and 5 % considered it not relevant for improving academic writing
skills.
About 75 % of the sample feels fairly good when teachers provide feedback in the lessons, 25% feel
good and 5% declared feeling bad while developing this process in the writing lessons. Regarding the
most frequent type of feedback used by teachers in academic writing lessons, 60% stated the use of
verbal feedback, 20% declared the use of marking, 15 % stated the use of physical feedback, and 5%
pointed out the use of stickers. 85% declared to feel comfortable when teachers of English provide
verbal feedback, 10% preferred physical feedback and 5% claimed the test revision.
Eight English writing lessons were observed from two classes, First B and C. The parameters for the
observation of the lessons were: class organization, students’ interaction, ways teachers provide
feedback, and students’ reaction to teachers’ feedback. The main results obtained were the following:
▪ Classes were well organized which favors students’ interaction in writing.
▪ Teachers´ feedback is not a widespread practice in the academic writing lessons. They rarely used
verbal and physical feedback in their lessons.
▪ Academic writing activities used in class are not suitable for all kinds of students; some topics are
not related to their likes, motivations, levels, and interests.
▪ Most academic writing activities foster pair work.
▪ Teachers try to provide clear orientations to the students, but sometimes there is a lack of
understanding on the part of the students, mainly because the language level she/he uses is not in
correspondence with the student’s level.
▪ Some students do not feel comfortable with teachers’ feedback.
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▪ Most of the activities done in class are oral, minimizing the importance of developing academic
writing skills.
Language barriers were among the main difficulties observed when teaching the English subject in the
classroom; many students have difficulties understanding and communicating in English, disrupting the
learning process. This can lead to a lack of participation and commitment in the classroom, which
creates a demanding teaching-learning process. The various levels of communicative competence in the
English language can be a challenge for teachers, as they must adapt their teaching to light the individual
needs of each student. Time constraints devoted to teaching English in the curriculum are also a reason
that makes it difficult for teachers to cover all aspects of the language.
The main results obtained from the interview with teachers are the following: 100% considered positive
feedback important to develop academic writing skills in the English lessons. 60% declared to provide
feedback using verbal phrases, 20% stated the use of marking, 10% indicated the use of physical
feedback and 10% declared the use of reports. Furthermore, teachers declared that the most common
mistakes their students commit while developing their pieces of academic writing are word order, word
choices, paragraph construction, use of grammatical structures, format, and punctuation.
Based on the compiled data, the following conclusions were reached: teachers´ feedback is not a
widespread practice for enhancing academic writing skills, and first-year students have some limitations
while producing academic pieces of writing. Nevertheless, it was recognized that teachers’ feedback
has a paramount importance in enhancing academic writing skills.
DISCUSSION
To solve the detected insufficiencies and provide a solution to the problem, a strategy is proposed to
foster teachers’ feedback to enhance high school students’ academic writing skills in English.
Mallia (2017), Dann (2018), Elliott et al. (2020), and Schillings et al. (2023) provide different examples
of strategies to foster feedback in writing lessons. Their results, though settled useful paths for
developing writing skills, are too general to develop this process to foster teachers’ feedback for
enhancing academic writing skills.
The strategy proposed here is characterized by being flexible and dynamic. It can be applied in any
period of the academic year. The strategy includes four stages: diagnostic, planning and organization,
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implementation, and assessment, with some actions. Its main objective is to foster teachers’ feedback
to enhance academic writing skills in high school. The actions are closely related to each other, which
makes it possible to move forward logically and coherently.
Stage One: Diagnostic
Actions:
1 To diagnose the students’ academic writing skills based on the following indicators: spelling,
correct use of grammar rules, paragraph structure, unity, coherence, cohesion, parallelism,
vocabulary use, format, and use of citation. The scale for each indicator is: from 10 to 8 excellent,
from 7 to 5 fairly good, from 4 to 3 good, and from 2 to 0 not good.
2 To lay the foundations for effective feedback based on:
▪ The content, the task the students are going to develop, and the students’ regulation.
▪ The people: whether it is for the whole class, a specific group, or individuals.
▪ Selecting the method: verbally. This could be materialized by a conversation or quick verbal
comment; may be written comments, written marks, scores, or a combination of them.
▪ To select the right time according to the objectives and the student’s needs: during a lesson;
immediately after a lesson; or sometimes after a lesson.
▪ To plan how students will receive and use feedback focusing on learning forward.
3 To determine the purpose and type of academic writing (essay, research, summary, journals, book
review, synthesis, or literature review) according to the curriculum and learning needs.
4 To examine students´ most appropriate text types for academic work. Guide students while locating
relevant material in the library or electronic resources.
5 To encourage students to prepare their academic writing portfolios.
Stage Two: Planning and Organization
Actions
1. To set grand expectations for the students in learning academic writing skills.
▪ To set goals that challenge students of all backgrounds, abilities, and dispositions.
▪ To demonstrate the positive attitudes, values, and behaviors expected from students.
2. To promote progress for students.
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▪ To be accountable for students’ attainment, progress, and outcomes.
▪ To guide pupils to reflect on the progress they have made and their emerging needs.
3. To demonstrate knowledge of the relevant subject(s) and curriculum areas, foster and maintain
students’ interest in developing academic writing skills, and address misunderstandings.
4. To motivate and involve students by using appropriate approaches, according to their needs.
5. To select the proper type of feedback according to the diagnosis applied to the students and teachers’
daily observation of students’ performance: marking, verbal, physical, and reports.
6. To design carefully academic writing tasks using which students will have to: prioritize research,
be concise, understand the purpose and the intended audience to whom the piece of writing is
addressed, use topic sentences and transitions, select format, select reference system, create
multiple drafts, use the vocabulary students know and work with expanding system, care for
spelling and grammar rules, engage them to vary the sentence structure and paragraphs.
7. To set the structure of the student’s academic writing portfolios.
8. To discuss with students the following indicators to assess their pieces of academic writing: correct
use of punctuation marks, spelling, word order, unity, coherence, parallelism, emphasis,
vocabulary, paragraph development, correct use of verbs tenses, pronouns, adverbs, articles, format,
use of correct citations, language style, and creativity.
Stage Three: Implementation
1. To establish a positive classroom atmosphere. Explore ways to further foster a growth mindset
among students.
2. To use questioning techniques that demonstrate a remarkable ability to engage students actively.
3. To commit and encourage students to succeed in the task they are doing.
4. To consider incorporating more opportunities for inquiry-based learning.
5. To allow students to enjoy your class discussions.
6. Allowing students to ask clarifying questions will make the learning experience more interactive
and engaging.
7. To add more opportunities for enrichment tasks to challenge high-achieving students.
8. To incorporate real-world connections effectively.
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9. To empower students to take ownership of their behavior.
10. To encourage self-evaluation and peer evaluation, encouraging students to analyze performance.
Stage Four: Assessment
Actions
1. To design adequate assessments and explore strategies to provide immediate feedback.
2. To explore systematically how students feel and progress in writing. For this, the teacher must ask
his/her students to check and compare the results they have reached in the portfolios.
3. To apply techniques of data collection (surveys, interviews, questionnaires) in which the teacher
gathers the outcomes in terms of student perceptions and other indicators of how they feel about
the teacher’s feedback.
4. To identify priorities that need to be changed.
5. To identify common mistakes and adopt decisions.
6. To analyze and compare the results obtained by the student’s academic writing skills.
7. To allow students to reflect on their practices and results guided by teachers and the continuous
feedback in the writing lessons.
8. To readjust the strategy.
9. Once the strategy was completed, a first analysis was carried out to determine its relevance and
validity. To do this, the experts’ criterion also known as Delphi was applied. In the application of
this method, the first step was to determine those elements that would be subjected to evaluation by
the experts.
In the case of this work, three elements were subjected to assessment by the experts. The first is the
general structure of the strategy to foster teachers’ feedback to enhance high school students’ academic
writing skills in English and its actions, the second is the validity of the strategy to meet its intended
objective in each of the stages and the third the possibilities of its application in first-year students from
Monserrate Alava de González School.
Once the aspects to be evaluated were determined, the possible experts were selected. The criteria
followed for the selection considered that they had experience in the teaching-learning process of
English and that they had knowledge about the development of academic writing skills in English
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lessons. This analysis was carried out with 26 teachers of English from Monserrate Alava de González
School, who were evaluated and accepted to undergo the analysis of their expertise.
A survey was applied to the selected group to determine their competence coefficient (K). For this, two
aspects were assessed: the degree of knowledge that the experts had about the topic (Kc) and their
argumentation or substantiation coefficient (Ka). Based on the self-assessment carried out by each of
the members of the group of possible experts regarding the two aspects declared above, the competence
coefficient of each one was calculated using the following mathematical formula: K= ½ (Kc + Ka). The
mathematical analysis of the individual results of the surveys concluded that 14 of the 25 teachers have
a K value of 0.8 (high competence coefficient) which led to their selection as experts on the research
topic. The group was formed by experts in the teaching-learning process of English and on the topic of
developing academic writing skills, with an average experience in teaching the language of more than
11 years. Concerning its academic and scientific composition, 10 have bachelor’s degrees, and four
have master’s degrees.
The process of collecting data related to the three aspects under evaluation began soon after determining
the group of experts. The acceptance of the relevance of the aspects analyzed took C1 (Very Valid) and
C2 (Valid) as targeted values for acceptance of validity. The criteria obtained were processed by the
following requirements established for this type of study: tabulation of the criteria issued by the experts
and the statistical processing thereof using an Excel for Windows spreadsheet.
A manuscript containing the strategy was prepared for the analysis of the aspects selected for
assessment. This paper was sent to each of the 14 experts. In the document, the group members were
asked to rate each of the aspects according to the following categories: C1= Very Valid, C2= Valid,
C3= Partially Valid, C4= Poorly Valid, and C5= Not Valid. The answers were also received
independently, without any contact between the expert group members.
The first aspect evaluated was the structure of the strategy and its actions. The statistical processing
placed the experts’ criteria in category C1 (Very Valid), so a new round of analysis was not necessary.
The second aspect evaluated was the validity of the strategy developed to achieve the objective in each
stage in which they are included.
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In the first session, statistical processing placed the responses in category C3 (Partially Valid). The main
criticisms made of the actions developed were focused on the first stage. They were the following: the
diagnosis must be more precise, include a proposal of indicators to assess students´ pieces of academic
writing, and include in the last stage students’ reflection on their practices and the possibility of
readjustment of the strategy.
Based on the aspects indicated, the proposal was re-elaborated. A second round was carried out with
the experts to evaluate the changes made. The new responses received from the experts placed the
proposal in category C1 (Very Valid). Consequently, a new round of analysis was not needed.
The last aspect assessed focused on the actual possibilities of applying the strategy in practice. In this
sense, the processing of the data is positioned in the category C1 (Very Valid). As a result, the experts’
consultation was finished.
The proposal included in this work constitutes a useful tool for high school teachers of English. It is
based on Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory, in which the student and the teacher are constantly
negotiating meaning through exchanging information. On the other hand, the proposal is based on the
contributions made by Mallia (2017), Dann (2018), Elliott et al. (2020), and Schillings et al. (2023),
regarding strategies to foster feedback in academic writing lessons. These investigators highlighted the
benefits of effective feedback practice for students’ growth and progression in the target language.
CONCLUSIONS
Teachers´ feedback is essential for developing good teaching practices nowadays. Through meaningful
feedback, teachers can allow great outcomes in their classroom management and satisfactory results in
students ‘achievement. Therefore, teachers´ feedback has a significant impact on developing students’
academic writing skills since it paves the way to foster teacher-student interaction in writing lessons.
The diagnostic study carried out on students and teachers revealed that teachers´ feedback is not a
regular practice in high school teachers. It was also found that first-year students from this level of
education faced some limitations in developing academic writing skills. Based on this problem a
strategy for fostering teachers’ feedback was proposed to achieve academic writing abilities in English.
The results obtained through the application of the experts’ criterion demonstrated the strategy’s
feasibility, objectivity, and viability.
pág. 6352
Based on the results obtained in this research, the authors suggest including the strategy in the
pedagogical practice to validate its feasibility to generate chances in the English subject and
consequently in the student’s academic writing skills. It is also suggested to design methodological
activities to introduce the strategy to other teachers of English.
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