The Effects Of Languaging Modes On The Efficacy Of Error Correction In EFL Writing

Languaging has been generally acknowledged as a paramount mediational tool for meaning-making and knowledge-building through language in the process of L2 learning.Despite abundant studies on its relationship with many learner-related or contextual factors in the field of L2 writing,the effects of languaging on error correction have not been fully explored.Hence,this study intends to investigate the effect of languaging in different modes on the efficacy of error correction in EFL writing.It is aimed at exploring(1)effects of languaging modes on the efficacy of error correction in terms of linguistic accuracy,(2)relationship between languaging modes and efficacy of error correction in terms of types of language-related episodes,and(3)effects of languaging in two modes on Chinese EFL learners’ perception of error correction.A total of 127 non-English major students from three intact classes in a normal university of Shandong Province joined the study.They were divided into three groups,one participating in the oral languaging activity,one in the written languaging activity,and one as the control group using no languaging.The first two groups of students were asked to reflect on the effects of languaging on the efficacy of error correction.For data analysis,quantitative analysis was conducted with the statistical software SPSS 22.0 and L2 Syntactic Complexity Analyzer(L2SCA)to examine the effect of different languaging modes.Qualitative analysis of students’ reflective journals was done to find out their perceptions and comments on languaging based on sociocultural theory.This study found that the two modes of languaging had significant effects on the efficacy of error correction.In general,oral languaging performed more significantly in posttest performance than the written mode.More specifically,oral languaging had significantly stronger effects than the written mode in the measurement of error-free clauses per clauses and errors per clauses,and written languaging mode did more justice to the accuracy improvement of error correction in the mean difference of words in error-free T units per total words.Meanwhile,most students participating in languaging had supportive and positive responses about the affective mediation and cognitive effectiveness,with the oral mode to be more prevalent.Additionally,it was also found that oral languaging could improve students’ noticing awareness of error correction than the written mode.In conclusion,the present study provides with the empirical data for the comparative analysis of languaging in different modes and has implications for future research on second language writing.For EFL writing teachers,languaging can be a facilitative teaching tool to improve the feedback efficacy,error treatment and writing instruction in classroom teaching practices.