Effects of Written Corrective Feedback on College EFL Students’Writing Accuracy and Linguistic Knowledge Acquisition

Set at the interface between second language acquisition and second language writing,this study examines how different types of written corrective feedback(WCF)influence the writing accuracy of Chinese college students learning English as a Foreign Language(EFL)and whether WCF facilitates the students’grasp of the focused linguistic knowledge.The participants(n=60)were divided into direct correction group(n=20),indirect error-coding group(n=20)and metalinguistic explanation group(n=20).The three groups wrote four essays in two months and received WCF for the first three essays on the five targeted error types,namely tense errors,confusion of different forms of a word,word(articles,prepositions,etc.)missing,errors in subjectverb agreement and inappropriate verb-noun collocations.The results show that all three types of WCF improved students’writing accuracy but none of them had any statistical advantage,and the metalinguistic WCF was more effective than the other two forms in facilitating the acquisition of the targeted linguistic features.These results shed some light on teaching and consolidation of language points through writing in EFL contexts.

The Impact of Teacher Feedback on the Long-term Improvement in the Accuracy of EFL Student Writing

本研究利用实验组和控制组数据来证明对学生作文给予不同的教师反馈可使两组人在写作准确性的长期进步中产生显著差异。对实验组采用的修改方法是修改加上相应的详细解释,该方法的效果在这个实证研究中清晰可见。而与此同时,对控制组的作文不修改错误,只给概括性的评语。结果,控制组在EFL写作准确性上进步很小。因此,我们认为这种修改方法对学生写作准确性的长期进步更有帮助,并且应该应用于EFL写作教学中。

Forms vs. Contents： A Perspective View to the Evaluation of Learner＇s Errors in Written Discourse

This paper analyses the experiment carried out by Peter S. Green and Karlheinz Hecht about criteria towards error-analysis in writing. In order to define what a good writing is, it further investigates the relation between accuracy and communicative effectiveness by examining the difference between Chinese teachers and English teachers＇ rating two university students＇ written works to find out the EFL learners＇ dilemma. By comparing the evaluation in written works from both non-native teachers and native teachers, it emphasizes the importance of composition teachers＇ role in providing feedback to their students, and proper suggestions have been given out to solve the problems of motivation in EFL learners.

The Justification of Teacher-guided Error Correction of Chinese College Students' English Writing

本文通过为期12周的实证研究旨在突出自主学习环境下教师主导作用在中国大学生英语作文纠错处理方面的发挥。通过实验组与控制组,实验前与实验后的对比分析,研究显示尽管实验前两组学生在作文自我修改能力及整体作文质量方面均无显著差异,行文准确度即流利度方面,控制组甚至强于实验组,经过12周的纠错处理,实验组学生在自我改错能力,文章表达准确度及作文整体质量方面明显优于控制组。在行文流利程度方面两组无明显差异,但两组在实验后作文流利程度均有显著提高。该研究丰富了已有的纠错研究并倡导自主学习环境下教师主导进行学生作文纠错处理。