Case studies of teacher formative feedback in facilitating students' learning of English writing in one-on-one teaching

Abstract

This study explored four cases of how formative feedback was used by teachers to enhance students’ writing in one-on-one teaching context. Various sources of data were collected within each case. The teacher-student interactions during instructional episodes and writing conference sessions were video-recorded. Students’ first and revised writing drafts, combined with teachers’ written feedback were collected to analyze the extent to which the students had incorporated the feedback. Semi-structured interviews with both teachers and students were conducted to see how they perceived and responded to the written and oral feedback. The results revealed that students in these cases were assigned an active role in the class to discuss with the teacher about the nature of achievement (D1) and areas for improvement (D2) of their writing. The students incorporated 90% of teachers’ feedback in subsequent revisions and expressed high satisfaction with the quantity and quality of teacher feedback during the interview. Features of the feedback given in one-on-one context valued by the students include timeliness, focusing on both form and meaning, integration of learning goals and students’ involvement in evaluation. The pedagogical implications for writing teachers and school policy makers are discussed and future research directions are suggested.