The Impact of Audio Corrective Feedback on Iranian EFL Learners’ Writing Improvement at Micro and Macro levels: Static and Dynamic Assessment in Focus (مقاله علمی وزارت علوم)

چکیده

Purpose: This study was an attempt to find the impact of audio corrective feedback on Iranian intermediate EFL learners’ writing improvement at micro and macro levels using static and dynamic assessment methods. Methodology: This study employs a quasi-experimental design; The study population comprises individuals residing in Yazd, Iran, aged between 22 and 30 years old, and possessing intermediate-level proficiency in the English language.Forty Iranian intermediate EFL learners were randomly chosen and assigned to two groups of static and dynamic assessment, each comprising 20 learners. Both groups received audio corrective feedback on the micro (grammatical range and accuracy and lexical resource) and macro (task response and coherence and cohesion) writing skills. The data were collected by the pre-test and post-test of writing and analyzed by multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA). Findings: The results revealed significant effects of audio corrective feedback on EFL learners' writing skills. Improvements were observed in grammatical accuracy (F = 12.45, p < 0.01), lexical resource (F = 9.67, p < 0.05), task response (F = 14.32, p < 0.01), and coherence and cohesion (F = 11.21, p < 0.01). Furthermore, comparison between the static and dynamic assessment groups showed a more pronounced improvement in the dynamic group, with significant differences in micro skills (F = 5.78, p < 0.05) and macro skills (F = 6.34, p < 0.05). Conclusions: The results of this study indicate that the dynamic assessment approach had a statistically significant effect on enhancing both micro and macro-level writing skills among the participants. Notably, it had a more pronounced impact on the improvement of task response and grammatical range and accuracy. This highlights the potential of dynamic assessment as a valuable tool for educators and curriculum designers to promote more comprehensive writing skill development in Iranian EFL learners.