%0 Thesis %A Lequerica, Stella %8 2018-10-09 %U http://hdl.handle.net/10818/34493 %X This study focused on observing and analyzing the highly form-specific issue of accurate spelling by Spanish L1 learners of English with the purpose of contributing to the ongoing debate on feedback’s relative efficacy, centered upon whether errors should be corrected or not and on whether feedback is effective or not. The treatment of direct and indirect written corrective feedback (WCF) was applied to spelling errors in learners of two distinct populations. An experimental action research design was appropriate to the study’s comparison of the two types of written corrective feedback, direct and indirect, on learners’ errors to determine their relative efficacy; and this research design permitted the establishment of relationships between the feedback treatment (direct or indirect) and spelling outcomes. The results indicated no statistically significant differences between and within groups among the two populations, suggesting that there are still no simple answers regarding feedback’s effectiveness. However, although many feedback studies give limited attention to the effects of language learners’ preexisting (L1) schemata, patterns in the spelling errors produced by the participants in the present study suggest that further work on the efficacy of feedback should indeed consider such issues more explicitly, as future research should consider not merely whether feedback can be valuable but how contextual factors can affect what kind of feedback (and responding to what in the learner) may be most valuable. %I Universidad de La Sabana %K Inglés -- Estudio y enseñanza %K Inglés -- Gramática %K Inglés -- Ortografía y deletreo %K Planificación educativa %T The effect of direct and indirect written feedback on spelling in two different populations of efl/esl learners %~ Intellectum