Relationship Between EFL Learners’ Computer Anxiety and Their Preferred Feedback Method(s) in Writing

Abstract

This study examined the relationship between EFL students' level of computer anxiety and the feedback method(s) they selected during the revision process of a writing assignment, as well as the effect of the feedback method(s) students chose on their writing performance. The participants of the present study were 120 EFL university students chosen out of 145 students based on their PET language proficiency test scores. In the next step, a 19-item translated version of Computer Anxiety Rating Scale (CARS) was administered to all of the 120 students in order to measure the students' level of computer anxiety. Afterwards, the researcher asked the students to specify the feedback method(s) they preferred. The feedback methods included online direct feedback, online indirect feedback, and face to face feedback. They were divided into four experimental groups based on their choice of feedback method(s). During a five-week course of intervention, the participants wrote five essays, one in each session, and received comments in respect with their preferred feedback. The first draft and last draft of their writing were used as the homogenizing pretest and posttest respectively. The results of chi square analysis revealed that the level of computer anxiety was related to the choice of feedback method(s). Moreover, the Kruskal Wallis test indicated that there was no significant difference among the four feedback groups regarding their writing performance.