Digital Literacies and Generational Micro-Cultures: Email Feedback in Lebanon

Abstract

This study reports on the introduction of email feedback, in a private university in Lebanon with marked generational differences and a traditional instructor culture focused on grammar correction. The instructor profile showed insufficient ELT training and a disjuncture between those with low and those with long service. Instructors were trained, and an email form used during one semester. A survey elicited instructors' views. Appraisal analysis identified attitudes in personal responses written by students and instructors. Analysis of feedback quality was undertaken. Results showed students responded positively, instructors negatively to email feedback. Instructors perceived students' positive response, but reasserted traditional understandings of teacher roles, reflecting a lack of understanding of the role of emotion in acquiring form. Training in ELT and digital literacies, management oversight of accountability structures, and sufficient remuneration for part-timers' grading hours, are recommended. The study also implicates long years of service in resistance to needed change.