The Effect Of Focused Written Corrective Feedback On Writing Accuracy In Senior High School Classroom Context

Since Truscott sparked the debate over the effectiveness of Written Corrective Feedback(WCF)on writing accuracy,related studies from different perspectives were undertaken over the last 30 years.However,there was no consistent conclusion over this issue.In the dimension of WCF scope,the facilitating role of focused WCF has been confirmed.But its utility was doubted in consideration of more errors in learners’ essays in authentic classroom context.To bridge the gap,it was advocated to adopt a sociocultural approach by taking students’ needs and the contextual factors in classroom into account.Up to now,there is still insufficient research on focused WCF in authentic classroom context.Therefore,the current study aims to probe into the effectiveness of focused WCF on Chinese senior high school students’ written accuracy in authentic classroom context.More specifically,the following three research questions are explored:(1)Does focused WCF in authentic classroom context have an effect on senior high school students’ written accuracy?(2)If so,what’s the effect of focused WCF in authentic classroom context on the written accuracy of senior high school students with different writing proficiency levels?(3)How do senior high school students perceive and respond to focused WCF in authentic classroom context and why?The study lasted five weeks with 54 Senior One students from a municipal demonstration middle school in Hubei province involved.A mixed-method approach was adopted to collect data from questionnaire,writing tests as well as semi-structured interview.After the experiment,the study has yielded the following three main findings:(1)Focused WCF conducted in authentic classroom context is effective in improving senior high school students’ written accuracy.(2)Students with high,middle and low writing proficiency all make progress in written accuracy.The improvement is significant for middle-level and low-level students,while that for high-level students is not significant.(3)Perceiving the effectiveness of focused WCF in authentic classroom context positively,students respond to focused WCF actively and produce more accurate drafts when exposed to student-centered WCF.Learners’ needs and previous WCF experience are the mediating factors.Based on the findings,some enlightenments to English writing pedagogy are provided,which include the implementation of focused WCF in authentic classroom context aiming at reinforcing pre-selected language points and activating learners’ engagement;providing student-centered instruction and WCF;making adjustment in accordance to specific context.