Building bridges: aligning teachers’ perceptions of student writing with students’ perceptions of teachers’ feedback

Providing feedback on student writing in the foreign language is common practice in Portugal and, generally, it is expected that this feedback will help the development of students’ writing skills. However, the impact that this feedback has on students’ writing performance is rarely assessed in the context of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classes. Research indicates the importance of students views on the feedback they get from teachers (Ferris, 1995; Ferris & Hedgcock, 2014; Elwood & Bode, 2014), including the fact that teachers’ written feedback may either reduce or increase student’s motivation to write and/ or improve their writing skills (Ferris, 2013). The aim of this study is to understand how students perceive English writing instruction and teacher’s feedback on their writing in a Higher Education Institution in Portugal. In a country where language teachers are expected to provide detailed editing and feedback on students writing, seldom has the effectiveness of this feedback been questioned and, therefore, the research aims to assess how this feedback is perceived by Portuguese students. The results are based on a questionnaire which aims to determine students’ perceptions of teacher’s feedback, the aspects of assessment that students value the most, and whether they think feedback helps to improve writing performance. Ultimately, it aims at questioning and enhancing teachers’ competence in providing effective feedback to students’ writing. A five-point Likert scale was used and included responses from first year and third year EFL students, B2/C1 level, enrolled in the Media Studies degree. Findings suggest that although the majority of students value feedback and are aware of its importance to achieve learning outcomes, teachers’ should consider how to provide more clear and meaningful feedback to students.