Iraqi high-school efl students' and teachers' attitudes towards written feedback in writing classes: A case of Suleymaniyah and Erbil

The aim of this study is to investigate the attitudes of Iraqi high-school teachers and students towards teacher written feedback in writing classes in Suleymaniyah and Erbil. A quantitative method was conducted in this study. Two different instruments were used in the study; teacher questionnaire and student questionnaire. A total of 100 teachers (50 males and 50 females) and 200 students (100 males and 100 females) participated in filling the questionnaire then the collected data were analyzed through SPSS. The findings showed that teachers' written feedback generally plays a significant role in improving students' writing skills. The study also showed that students are encouraged and improved when English teachers provide them with optimistic and constructive written feedback. It was also observed that students show high preference of specific written feedback to facilitate the correction of mistakes. The findings showed that teachers' positive written feedback on their daily assignments and paper tests was highly preferred by students. Additionally, the study showed that teachers' written feedback in its time has a powerful impact on students' writing skills. A t- test analysis indicated that there were no statistically significant differences between male and female teachers and also students towards teacher written feedback. Keywords: Written feedback, Iraqi EFL learners, high-school students