A Case Study Of Autonomous Composition Modification Based On Pigaiwang Feedback

Writing feedback helps stimulate students to repeatedly modify their compositions to improve their writings and develop their writing skills.In reality,due to the constraints of personal time and energy,it is difficult for teachers to repeatedly offer students with highly personalized writing feedbacks throughout writing process.Therefore,in an era that calls for lifelong learning and with information technology boosting,it is pressing to advance use of high-tech education resources to facilitate English writing in senior high school and gradually cultivate students into autonomous and independent language learners.Under the theoretical framework of the Process Approach Theory and the Socio-Cultural Theor this research,by a close probe in a case study,has focused on how the autonomous revision process was fulfilled on Pigaiwang,what effects Pigaiwang-based feedback produced on senior high school students' writing improvement and how their awareness of composition modification was developed,for the purpose of making appropriate use of Pigaiwang,this learning resource,in writing skill development.The purpose of this study led to the following three research questions:(1)How do the students modify their compositions in accordance with Pigaiwang-based feedbacks?(2)What effects doPigaiwang-based feedbacks have on the improvement of the students' compositions?(3)What effects do Pigaiwang-based feedbacks have on the development of the students' awareness of composition modification?In order to achieve the research purpose,the researcher conducted a close probe in a multi-case study and followed a qualitative research method.By a natural sampling method,eight students were selected as voluntary participants.All of them came from a top-rate class in Grade Two in an exemplary senior high school located in Bijie,Guizhou Province.They were asked to fulfill five writing tasks in a six-week writing program,in which they needed to write on Pigaiwang and modify their writings in accordance with Pigaiwang-based feedbacks.Also,they were individually interviewed in two rounds of semi-structured interviews.In the end,32 pieces of students' compositions(including multi-drafts produced throughout the revision process),a number of electronic records of the autonomous revision process(primarily the Pigaiwang-based feedbacks that were available to the students and the students' reactions to them)and transcriptions of interviews were collected for data analysis.Based on data analyses and discussions,the following findings have been elicited.First,being stimulated by Pigaiwang-based feedbacks the students were disposed to repeatedly modify their compositions.Second,revising a composition in accordance with Pigaiwang-based feedbacks facilitated the improvement of the students' compositions.However,on account of technology limitation,it was hard for Pigaiwang to identify and point out all language errors and offer more meaning-oriented feedbacks.Finally,some of the students' awareness of composition modification was enhanced through repeated revision,some were less influenced and some were negatively affected.The findings above brought some implications: Due to technology limitation,instant system feedback could be combined with teacher follow-up feedback so that Pigaiwang would exert its full function and practical use and compensate for its extremely system-relied drawbacks.In addition,the interaction between students and Pigaiwang could be integrated with a face-to-face interactional model,which might help reduce students' anxiety in English writing,provide them with timely and necessary help and develop their English writing skills.