The Effects of Corrective Feedback Strategies on English Majors’ Writing

Abstract

The present study, through sample analysis and questionnaires, investigates the effects of different types of corrective feedback in 250 essays of the first-year English major students and the students’ responses to different feedback strategies. The study shows that 1) the students can improve their writing with the help of the feedback and that different types of errors in the English majors’ writing require different feedback strategies; 2) indirect feedback (coded feedback and uncoded feedback) can be mainly used, supplemented by direct correction; and 3) the English majors highly appreciate the teacher’s feedback; their preference is coded feedback, followed by direct correction and uncoded feedback This study sheds light on how different feedback strategies can be used in teaching L2 English at the university level.