THE ABC’s OF STUDENT DISPOSITIONS TOWARDS WRITTEN FEEDBACK IN ESL CLASSROOMS IN ACCRA METROPOLIS, GHANA

Educators and researchers interested in the development of second language learners’ writing skills place premium on how feedback is provided and the crucial role student attitudes play in determining the efficacy of feedback in the execution of L2 writing instruction. In line with this standpoint, the current study investigates the affective, behavioral, and cognitive dimensions of student dispositions towards written feedback in English composition classrooms in senior high schools in the Accra Metropolis in Ghana. The study was based on Eagly and Chaiken’s (1998) ABC model of attitude. Following a sequential explanatory design, 12 students each from the 5 major programs in each school were sampled from 2 each of Categories A, B, and C schools to respond to questionnaires. Afterward, 36 of these students were purposively sampled to take part in interviews. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences was used to analyze the quantitative data generating means and standard deviations. Also, the interview data were thematically analyzed. The findings show that students generally have positive cognitive, affective, and behavioral attitudes towards teacher direct and unfocused feedback but have negative attitudes towards peer feedback and teacher indirect and focused feedback. From these findings, it is suggested that English language teachers in Ghanaian ESL classrooms should carefully consider the attitudes of their students in determining the use of written feedback in order to optimize the impact of the feedback on the development of the writing proficiencies of the students.  Article visualizations: