Effects Of Diagnostic Writing Feedback On Senior High School Students' English Writing Ability

Feedback,as an important part of English writing teaching,plays a vital role in improving students' English writing ability.However,in actual teaching,the writing feedback provided by the teacher makes it difficult for students to have a clear understanding of their English writing,nor can it meet the needs of students.China's Standards of English Language Ability,issued and implemented in 2018,provides a unified standard for measuring the language ability of English learners in China,which includes the description of English writing ability of senior high school students.According to Standards,this study selects five abilities,namely vocabulary ability,grammar ability,content expression ability,cohesion ability,and normative writing ability,also sets corresponding levels and descriptions to diagnose students' English writing and provide more specific feedback.Based on Output Hypothesis,Noticing Hypothesis,and Interaction Hypothesis,this study applies the writing feedback combined with Standards into the senior high school,attempting to explore the effects of this writing feedback on the English writing ability of senior high school students.This study focuses on the following two research questions:(1)What effects does diagnostic writing feedback have on students' English writing ability?(2)What is the attitude and reaction of students with different English writing abilities to diagnostic writing feedback?This study selects two intact classes in Grade Two from a senior high school in Yueyang,60 students totally,and conducts a sixteen-week experiment.During the process of the experiment,the experimental class receives diagnostic writing feedback,while the control class receives conventional writing feedback.After the experiment,SPSS 23.0 software and graphic tools are used to analyze and discuss the collected writing scores,questionnaire data and interview results.The findings are as follows:(1)In the post-experiment test,there is a significant difference between the writing scores of the experimental class and the control class(p=.001<.05),indicating that diagnostic writing feedback can effectively improve students' English writing ability,especially cohesion ability.(2)Questionnaire data and interview results show that most students accept and react positively to diagnostic writing feedback.And high-level students prefer the feedback on content and cohesion,while low-level students like the feedback on vocabulary and grammar more,middle-level students pay attention to both types of feedback.Moreover,Compared with students with poor writing ability,students with better writing ability react more actively.The results of this study show that diagnostic writing feedback combined with Standardsis of great practical significance and reference value for English writing teaching in senior high schools.