The Effect of Metalinguistic Clues on Iranian EFL Learners’ Accuracy of Writing Performance

Accuracy in writing is one of the important characteristics of a good writer, which raises concerns about how to improve it and which type of feedback can effectively contribute to its development. This quasi-experimental study, within the theoretical framework of Focus on Form (FoF), investigated the effects of metalinguistic clues in dictogloss tasks on the accurate use of conditional sentences in writing discourse. Participants were 56 female EFL learners at the intermediate level, comprising two groups of experimental (N = 28) and comparison (N = 28) in a language institute in Tabriz. After checking the homogeneity of the participants by a proficiency test, they were pre-tested. In the experimental group, participants received metalinguistic clues in dictogloss tasks, while in the comparison group, participants received dictogloss tasks, without any meta-linguistic feedback. After the treatment, two groups were post-tested. ANCOVA data analysis revealed that the experimental group outperformed the comparison group in the accurate use of conditional sentences in their writing performance. The results of this study will be a valuable contribution in how to enhance students’ accuracy in written discourse by giving feedback through metalinguistic clues.