A Case Study on Teacher Written Commentary and Student Responses in a Tertiary EFL Writing Classroom

Abstract

Motivated by the importance of student responses to actual teacher comments during their revision process this study aims to explore English majors’ immediate reactions to their teacher’s written commentary and revisions in an EFL writing classroom One writing teacher and eighteen students participated in this study Three types of research methodologies were used: (a) text analyses of the foci and nature of the teacher’s written commentary (b) think-aloud protocols and sometimes stimulated recall on the students’ immediate reactions to the teacher’ written commentary and (c) text analyses of the students’ revisions in response to the teacher’s written commentary The results show that the writing teacher provided a vast majority of content-focused comments and she made a considerable amount of effort to offer revision directives particularly instances of “asking for information” and “making suggestions” The students understood agreed with and used their teacher’s written commentary and also revised successfully in response to the comments frequently The results suggest that the text issue on idea clarification the teacher’s use of direct directives and the students’ understanding agreement and use of written comments were interrelated with one another to facilitate successful communication between the teacher and the students This successful communication further highlights the efficacy and value of teacher written commentary in process-oriented writing pedagogy This study concludes by underscoring the necessity of engaging students during the feedback process thus contributing to a more positive and supportive writing classroom

Date of Award	2016 Aug 4
Original language	English
Supervisor	Hui-Tzu Min (Supervisor)