Handwritten and Typed Feedback: Teachers’ Underlying Reasons for Using them and Students’ Responses

Abstract

Feedback plays an important role in any writing classes, especially in the Academic writing class. A good feedback will lead students to produce a good piece of academic writing. However, many teachers in Academic writing classes gives two different type of feedback, handwritten feedback and typed feedback. This study aims to answer two research questions: (1) what is the teacher’s consideration in giving handwritten or typed feedback to the students in Academic writing class? and (2) how do the students respond to the different ways of written feedback from the teacher in the Academic writing class? The participants of the study were 20 students and two teachers from a private university in Salatiga. Semi-structured interview and an open-ended questionnaire were used as the instruments of the data collection. A semi-structured interview was conducted with twoteachers to reveal their consideration in giving written feedback or typed feedback. Meanwhile, five questions were presented in the questionnaire in which the participants were asked to write their responses regarding written and typed feedback in Academic writing class. The data from the interview and questionnaire were analyzed using comparative analysis. The result of this study showed that (1) both teachers interviewed has their consideration in giving handwritten feedback or typed feedback to their students; (2) handwritten or typed feedback has its advantages and disadvantages for students. Eventually, this research hopes to give insights for teachers and students concerning handwritten and type feedback in the Academic Writing class.