The Primacy of Teacher Imperative Commentaries in the Improvement of Iranian English Majors’ Writing Ability

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Islamic Azad University, North Tehran Branch, Iran

2 Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, USA

Abstract

In this study, the researchers investigated a critical aspect of EFL/ESL writing pedagogy-the impact of teacher written commentary on student writer’s earlier drafts. Compositions of 80 Iranian undergraduate English majors were commented on using a trio of imperatives, statements, and questions on both content and form. Overall, the results indicated that the comments in the imperative form helped students improve their EFL/ESL writing ability more than the other two types. However, the difference between statements and questions was found not to be significant. The findings of this study, once again, emphasized the need for EFL/ESL writing instructors to communicate to learners with appropriate types of written comments. Moreover, employing imperative sentences can orient student writers towards a more accurate (i.e. form-focused) and appropriate (i.e. content-focused) composition writing.

Keywords

References

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Iranian Journal of Applied Language Studies
Volume 3, Issue 1 - Serial Number 1
Summer and Autumn 2011
Pages 119-150

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