VietTESOL International Convention 2025

Screencast feedback has become a promising alternative to traditional written feedback in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) writing instruction thanks to the growing use of technology in education. However, its impact on student writing performance in the Vietnamese context remains underexplored. This study adopted a quasi-experimental design to examine the influence of screencast feedback on the quality of argumentative essays and students’ perceptions of its impact. 13 students from a public high school participated in a six-week period involving a pre-test, post-test, weekly writing assignments with revisions, and semi-structured interviews with seven students. Writing performance was assessed using the IELTS Writing Task 2 rubric. Regarding the findings, paired-sample t-tests revealed statistically significant improvements in both overall writing scores and all four IELTS writing components, with the most notable gains in Grammatical Range and Accuracy. Students demonstrated stronger argumentation, better organization of ideas, enhanced vocabulary usage, and improved grammatical accuracy and structures. Qualitative analysis of the students’ pre-tests, post-tests, revisions, and interview responses further confirmed that these improvements were closely linked to their active engagement with the screencast feedback, as they consistently referred to the feedback during revisions and made changes that directly reflected the suggestions in the screencast videos. Most participants found the feedback clear, detailed, engaging, and helpful in developing self-regulation in writing, although some noted challenges such as information overload and a desire for more focus on language form. Overall, these findings underscore the pedagogical value of screencast feedback in improving writing development in EFL contexts.