The Effect of Native Language vs. Official Language Feedback on Improving Reading and Writing among Bilingual Students

In order to study the effect of native vs. official language feedbacks on bilingual (Kurdish-Persian) students’ reading and writing achievements, 45 (male) fourth grade elementary students of an educational complex in Ushnawieh were chosen through clustered sampling. The students were assigned to three groups; experimental group 1, who received native language feedback (Kurdish), experimental group 2, who received official language feedback (Persian), and control group, who did not receive any feedback. In order to gather the data, a researcher-made test was used. According to the results of univariate covariance (ANCOVA) analysis, native language feedback had a significant effect on the reading and writing skills of the students and there was a significant difference between the first experimental group, who received native language feedback (Kurdish), and the control group, who received no feedback. However, there were no significant differences between the second experimental group, who received official language feedback (Persian), and the control group. This finding indicates that official language feedback (Persian) had little effect on improving reading and writing skills of bilingual (Kurd) students.