A Study On The Effect Of Different Feedback Types On Senior One Students’ English Writing Proficiency

Writing proficiency usually require the students to develop both linguistic and(meta)cognitive skills and knowledge resources.In a foreign language writing context,writers usually bring their first language(L1)writing proficiency and L1 writing experience to the writing task,which makes the acquisition of writing proficiency even more complicated.Therefore,how to improve the writing proficiency of English learners has become an important topic for researchers,especially for students in west China.In the teaching context of the west of China,the focus of writing teaching has been shifting from product-oriented approach to process-oriented approach to improve the writing proficiency of the senior high school students.In order to meet the requirements of writing proficiency in the latest version of National English Curriculum for Senior High school(2017),more and more English teachers strive to use adequate strategies to respond effectively to their students’ writing in order to help them develop appropriate writing proficiency.Among these strategies,the teacher written feedback and automated essay scoring(AES)are two crucial means for facilitating students’ writing proficiency.Previous studies mainly focused on the effectiveness of these two feedback types.However,there are a few researches making a comparative study of the effects of two feedback types.Thus,the present study selected 120 students from two parallel classes of senior one at Urumqi No.3 Senior High School as subjects.They were divided into three groups: a group receiving grades plus grading marks,a group receiving grades,grading marks plus giving correct answers,and a group receiving AES feedback(Juku scoring system feedback).The research questions for the current study are as follows:(1)Can students’ English writing proficiency be improved after receiving teacher written feedback(grades plus grading marks,grades,grading marks plus giving correct answers)and Juku scoring system feedback? If yes,in what ways?(2)Do different types of feedback have a differential effect on students’ writing proficiency? If yes,in what ways?(3)What are the students’ attitudes towards different types of feedback?The data were collected through tests,questionnaires and interview,which were further analyzed by SPSS.The major findings are summarized as follows:(1)All the three types of feedback had a positive effect on improving students’ writing proficiency.As for the writing proficiency of sub-skills,the writing scores in terms of organization,vocabulary usage and spelling and punctuation were improved significantly for scores in the terms of five sub-skills were improved significantly for students receiving grades,grading marks plus giving correct answers and students receiving Juku scoring system feedback.(2)The overall English writing proficiency was not affected by different types of feedback.However,different types of feedback did have a differential effect on students’ writing proficiency of sub-skills.Moreover,the writing proficiency in terms of organization and sentence construction were significantly improved for the students who received Juku scoring system feedback.(3)The students thought that feedback with grades,grading marks plus giving correct answers and Juku scoring system feedback were very helpful.Most of the students became more confident and less feared and anxious after receiving different types of feedback.Moreover,most of the students were motivated to revise their writing drafts.Moreover,in their opinion,feedback with grades,grading marks plus giving correct answers was very effective and direct and Juku scoring system feedback was very efficient and timely.However,they thought they would feel frustrated and anxious by receiving teacher written feedback and Juku scoring system feedback was not comprehensive and not as direct and effective as teacher feedback.In sum,most of the students preferred to combine two types of feedback together.