The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between students’ cognitive engagement with written corrective feedback (WCF) and their revision behavior. Based on the assumption that different levels of cognitive involvement are linked to learners’ use of the feedback, we investigated how different post-feedback activities (i.e., reading, copying, and explaining the feedback) would affect second language writers’ behavioral engagement with WCF during the revision phase. Ninety-eight students were divided into three experimental groups and one control group. Experimental groups performed one of the three post-feedback activities before revising their original writing. The participants’ revision behavior was examined by their uptake of WCF. Additionally, the change in writing quality between the first and the revised drafts was investigated. Results showed that activities that promote deeper cognitive processing generally led to higher uptake of WCF in revision. The effects of post-feedback activities, however, varied for error types. All the post-feedback activities were effective in improving the quality of writing.

The study investigates whether differences in metalinguistic information contained in written corrective feedback (CF) mediate its effectiveness for second language (L2) development. To address this, metalinguistic CF was distinguished into three types in terms of how specific its metalinguistic information was. They were then compared among themselves and with non-metalinguistic direct CF in their efficacy for short- and long-term development of explicit and implicit L2 knowledge. The target features for written CF were the English articles, and explicit and implicit knowledge were measured by the error correction test and dictogloss writings by 93 EFL learners respectively. The results suggest that, for both explicit and implicit L2 knowledge, metalinguistic CF was beneficial for short-term development only when it had high levels of specific information while it was effective for long-term development regardless of its type. The findings are discussed from the perspective of SLA theory, and their pedagogical implications and suggestions for future research are put forth.

This study explores the effects of teacher feedback on engineering students’ perceptions of learning a business subject and English development in the context of English-medium instruction (EMI). Using a mixed method, it examines specific contributions of teachers’ extensive feedback to the students’ emerging perceptions of interdisciplinary education and EMI. The quantitative section includes questionnaire responses of two groups of students enrolled in four sections of an entrepreneurship course: the control group (CG) in which the students received limited feedback in the lecture-style EMI (n=137) and the experimental group (EG) of extensive corrective feedback (n=133). These results are cross-examined by a semi-structured focus group interview with four respondents. The analysis shows that the university seniors’ mean satisfaction score with EMI, despite staying around the mid-point, was higher than that of the others, and significantly more so than the freshmen group. Notably, EG students appreciated EMI more than CG students. Subsequent findings establish that extensive feedback correlates with the increased positivity towards learning entrepreneurship and, more importantly, English development. This study thus proposes English programs for specific purposes and a support system including an EMI-specialized teaching methodology.

The present study aimed at investigating the effects of the two types of teacher feedback―direct corrective feedback (DCF) and metalinguistic explanation (ME)―on the development of EFL learners’ knowledge of the English indefinite article and on their use of it in writing. For this study, 58 college students classified into three groups (two experimental groups and one control group) took the error correction test and performed three writing tasks. The results of the study are 1) there was no group effect of the two types of feedback in the development of their explicit knowledge of the target feature in the test, whereas a time effect was found that their knowledge of the target feature developed significantly after the treatment; and 2) no group differences were found between the two types of feedback in the use of the target feature in the revised writing and among the three writings, though the DCF group outperformed the ME group in the accurate use of the target feature in writing. Theoretical and pedagogical relevance of the findings is addressed.

This study investigated the effects of negotiation in the process of providing written corrective feedback (WCF) by comparing three different patterns: non-negotiation, minimal negotiation, and extended negotiation. The data were collected from three intermediate academic English classes at a university in Korea. Each class was exposed to different degrees of negotiation while they received WCF for two target forms, the past verb forms and the English articles, in their written production (text re-construction tasks). Their accuracy improvement was measured by text-reconstruction writing tasks and error correction tests. The study found that the use of negotiation affected accuracy improvement of the target forms; however, its effectiveness varied depending on the target forms and measurements. For the past tense, negotiation, regardless of its amount, resulted in more accuracy improvement than non-negotiation in both text re-construction tasks and error correction tests. However, for the English articles, negotiation operated differently: extended negotiation significantly brought about more accuracy development in both measurements, but the difference between minimal negotiation and non-negotiation was only observed in the error correction test, not in the text re-construction task.

This paper examined effects of three types of written corrective feedback (CF) on L2 learners’ grammatical accuracy in writing, focusing on the use of verb tense and articles. Within Ellis’ (2008) typology of CF, the present study focused on direct, indirect, and metalinguistic CF. The feedback was provided at each stage of writing, and the participants were to write three new pieces of writing. Changes in the accuracy of the grammatical targets were measured. Results indicated that despite the limitations of the small number of the participants, positive changes in the grammatical accuracy were found with metalinguistic CF for verb tense and with indirect CF for articles in new pieces of writing. In addition, unlike previous studies, a negative role of direct written feedback was observed in the present study.

This study investigated the effects of two types of corrective feedback (CF), recasts and metalinguistic feedback (implicit vs. explicit CF), on the development of implicit and explicit knowledge of English articles. It also examined the relationship between learners’ language aptitude, in particular language analytic ability, and their knowledge development through different types of CF. Six intact intermediate communication English classes (a total of 104 students and two English-speaking teachers) at a university participated in the present study. In CF groups, learners received recasts or metalinguistic feedback (MF) to the errors of the English articles during communicative activities, while no CF was given to the control group. The study employed a pretest-posttest-delayed posttest design, and four different tests were used to measure learner implicit and explicit knowledge. The study found both recasts and MF effective in the development of implicit knowledge and selective effects of recasts on the improvement of explicit knowledge. This suggests that both implicit and explicit CF bring about the development of implicit and explicit knowledge. In addition, language analytic ability was found to be closely related to learners’ gains through both CF and development of explicit and implicit knowledge of English articles.

The study investigates the relative effects of two types of indirect written corrective feedback (CF) on the acquisition of English articles. Thirty-five high intermediate Korean EFL college students who were enrolled in three composition classes participated in this study. After the instruction on the English article usage, three classes (Class A, Class B, and Class C) received different types of feedback on their blog writings over the course of a semester. Both Class A and Class B received indirect feedback in the form of underlining errors. In the following class, Class A received correct forms with metalinguistic information for the errors revised incorrectly, but Class B did not have such opportunities. The Class C received no feedback. The results showed that only Class A, which received indirect feedback plus correct forms with metalinguistic information, made a statistically significant gain from the 3 sessions of feedback treatment. Pedagogical implications were provided on the basis of the findings.

The role of oral corrective feedback (CF) in second language (L2) learning has been extensively investigated. However, little attention has been given to the relationship between different types of CF and explicit/implicit L2 knowledge. For this reason, the present study explored the effects of recasts and metalinguistic feedback on the development of explicit and implicit knowledge of the English articles. Sixty-three university students enrolled in intermediate Communication English classes participated, and they were assigned into a metalinguistic group, a recast group, and a control group. While the students engaged in meaning-based activities (i.e., retelling stories), the feedback groups received respective CF on the errors of English articles and the control group did not receive any feedback. Untimed grammatical judgement tests were employed to measure the students’ improvement of explicit knowledge and elicitation oral imitation tests were used to examine their gains of implicit knowledge. The study found that both recasts and metalinguistic feedback equally facilitated the development of explicit knowledge over time. However, they were not as effective as in the improvement of implicit knowledge, showing a short-term effect on the development.

This study examines whether revision mediates the effects of its preceding written corrective feedback (CF) in developing second language (L2) knowledge. For this purpose, effects of direct CF and three sub-types of metalinguistic CF with and without revision were compared in the quasi-experiment with 197 EFL university students. They formed 9 groups (i.e., 4 revision groups, 4 non-revision groups, and 1 control group) and completed 4 dictogloss writings. Written CF and revision were implemented after the first two writings. English articles were the target structure for the written CF. The first, third and fourth writings were measured for the accuracy of article use as the pre-test, the immediate post-test and the delayed post-test, respectively. The results reveal that revision did not affect the efficacy of direct CF while it enhanced that of metalinguistic CF to varying degrees with its subtypes. These findings indicate that, if revision is conducted following written CF with particular metalinguistic information, it may facilitate learning new L2 knowledge beyond manifesting existing L2 knowledge.

This study examined how Chinese college students react to their writing teachers’ corrective feedback (CF). A total of 1,077 students completed a survey questionnaire consisting of two parts: participants’ general information and their reactions to teachers’ CF. It was found that students had positive feelings towards CF, and that they gave the most attention to the problems at the micro-level. They believed that teacher CF could help them greatly with revision in organization, vocabulary, and grammar, but that it was not so helpful with problems in content. Failure to comprehend or make corrections based on their teacher CF was reported. In such cases, some students tended to employ very limited strategies, or they responded to CF in a passive manner. Accordingly, it is suggested that further qualitative research also be conducted to obtain a fuller and finer picture of students’ reactions to their teacher’s CF on their writings.

Despite a growing interest in the role of written corrective feedback (CF) in L2development, not enough research has examined how learners actually process and understand linguistic information delivered in CF. Acknowledging the importance and necessity of process-oriented research into written CF, the present study investigated the extent to which Korean learners of English understood written CF they received from the teacher in writing classes. In addition, the study looked into whether the presence and quality of understanding of CF was related to learners’immediate uptake and retention of CF. Two intact writing classes and one native English teacher participated in the present research. The study found that a third of CF targeting grammar errors and a half of CF targeting vocabulary errors were correctly understood. The quality of the learners’ understanding of CF was closely related to their immediate uptake in terms of grammar but not in vocabulary; and the quality of their understanding was strongly related to retention in grammar and vocabulary.

Thi s study investi gates whether the effect of written corrective feedback (CF) on learners' acquisition of English art icle usage is mediated by the type of information CF provides. To tap into this issue, four types of informat ion on error were identifi ed: its existence, location, correct form and nature. Written CF was categorized into three types according to the sorts of information it contained: indirect CF that supplies informat ion on existence and location, direct CF that provides information on ex istence, location and correct form, and metalinguistic CF that includes metalinguistic explanation on error nature and all the other infornlation types. Three CF groups were accord ingly formed along with a control group in a quasi-experiment, where the groups engaged in three narrative-writing tasks. Error correction and narrati ve writing tests were administered to measure the acquisition of explicit and implicit knowledge of English articles respectively. The results revealed that written CF was beneficial to acquisition of both L2 exp licit and im plicit knowledge and that such positive effects emerged only in the metalinguistic CF group. The findings added counterevidence to Truscott's (1996) argument against written CF utility and suggested that metalinguistic explanation on error may playa pivotal role in written CF-triggered L2 acqui sition.

This study investigated which type of corrective feedback, direct feedback or indirect feedback, would be more effective for reducing the targeted errors−verb, noun, and determiner errors−in L2 writing. The 20 Korean EFL college students were divided into two feedback conditions: direct feedback and indirect coded feedback. The results of the study showed that only the errors in the noun category, not the other two categories, showed a significant decrease over time. There were no significant differences in the effect of the differential feedback. The post surveys and interviews revealed that the students in both groups had difficulty in understanding their errors and feedback on them, and they wanted to receive a more detailed explanation about their errors in order to fully understand them. The overall findings indicate that different types of corrective feedback need to be combined with other methods such as a one-to-one conference or mini-lesson for further helping students understand their errors and reduce other errors in the future. This study provides L2 teachers with valuable information on how to respond more effectively to the needs of L2 learners.

This experimental study investigated whether language anxiety differentially influences the extent to which two corrective feedback (CF) techniques of recasts and prompts affect the L2 learning process and its outcome. Four experimental groups were formed according to their anxiety level and the type of CF received during question recall tasks they completed: the high-anxiety recasts-receiving group, the low-anxiety recasts-receiving group, the high-anxiety prompts-receiving group, and the low-anxiety prompts-receiving group. Two high- and low-anxiety control groups were additionally formed, who did not engage in the tasks. Learners’ anxiety level was judged based on their responses to a language anxiety questionnaire. CF efficacy in processing L2 was measured by examining the extent to which CF induced modified output and repair. Learners’ L2 knowledge was assessed at explicit and implicit levels on pretests, immediate posttests, and delayed posttests. Results revealed that language anxiety had no impact on prompts’ efficacy but displayed some influence on recasts’ efficacy. Recasts were more effective in promoting repair and L2 explicit knowledge for low-anxiety learners. It was also found that the differential effects of learner language anxiety were closely related to the level of anxiety aroused by the way the tasks were implemented. The finding highlights the significance of considering both learner language anxiety and task anxiety in providing CF.

The purpose of the study is to report and share a reflection on using the ETS Criterion online writing evaluation system in a university setting and evaluate if this system can be a suitable teaching/learning tool for English language learners (ELLs) in an English as a Foreign Language (EFL) context to facilitate their writing ability. Participants were given a writing prompt to write about in class and entered their writing into the Criterion system to receive feedback. Both quantitative and interpretive analyses were conducted for 129 student writing samples and Trait Feedback Analysis reports. The study revealed that the sentence-level feedback appears to be in urgent need for EFL writers, but Criterion did not provide this kind of feedback. Errors in such aspects as basic sentence structures, subject-verb relationship, awkward meaning construction, and formulaic expressions could not be treated by Criterion at all. In addition, the comparison of teacher feedback and Criterion feedback were discussed in details. This study alerts users to contemplate before use what the purpose of using Criterion is, whether for diagnosis of writing proficiency or as a teaching/learning tool for developing students’ writing ability. Plus, educators should be aware of on which language aspects and features EFL writers necessitate feedback to facilitate their writing development, different from first language (L1) writers.