Discussion of the Student Rana Abdullah Abdel-Baqi’s Thesis

A master's thesis entitled (the effect of teachers' written comments and observations on developing students' writing in English language classes at the University of Basrah) was discussed in the Department of English at the College of Arts at the University of Basrah.

The thesis presented by the student Rana Abdullah Abdel-Baqi included five chapters. The first chapter discussed the research introductions, the second chapter discussed the theoretical side, the third chapter included the research methodology, the fourth chapter focused on data analysis and interpretation, while the fifth chapter dealt with the conclusion and suggestions.

The thesis aims to discuss the importance of teachers' written comments and observations being an important educational tool in improving the writing level of Iraqi students by studying teachers' perceptions and actual practices of this tool in their classes and knowing if there are similarities or differences between them.

The results of the study showed that most of the teachers' perceptions of written comments and notes do not agree with each other, as a number of contradictions were found between them.

Accordingly, the current study recommends conducting more studies on the importance of written comments and notes in the teaching context in Iraq to broaden perceptions about their effectiveness as a basic educational tool in improving students' writing level.  The study also presents a number of recommendations regarding best practices for written comments and notes proposed by a number of researchers, which would improve the level of teachers' written comments and notes and make them more effective.