EFL Junior High School Students’ Engagement with Teacher Written Corrective Feedback and Revision Outcomes

Abstract

This study explores how English as a Foreign Language (EFL) junior high school students engage with teacher written corrective feedback (WCF) and what their revision outcomes are. Studies of teacher WCF at the junior high school level in Indonesia remain limited, and few connect students’ engagement with the actual results of their revisions. This qualitative case study involved six eighth-grade students at a state junior high school in Karawang, West Java, selected purposively to represent low, medium, and high writing proficiency. Data came from semi-structured interviews and document analysis of the students’ first and second recount-text drafts. The findings show that all six students engaged cognitively, behaviorally, and affectively, but the depth of their engagement varied with proficiency. Behavioral engagement was the most dominant dimension because every student produced a revised draft; cognitive engagement was strong at the noticing stage yet uneven at the metacognitive level; and affective responses generally moved from negative to positive. Most revisions were successful, especially those responding to metalinguistic and direct feedback, while the few unsuccessful and misunderstood outcomes involved grammar and marks that only located errors. Teachers are therefore encouraged to introduce feedback codes before revision and to guide lower-proficiency students while they revise.