Students' Feedback On Teacher Feedback

Writing, as one of the four fundamental skills for the language learners to acquire, is an indispensable part in the process of English language teaching. A large amount of studies has been carried out by English teachers and researchers to promote learners'writing skills and ability, and giving feedback on student writing is among the most controversial topics in second language teaching. It is indicated in many research that the effectiveness of teacher feedback has a significant impact on students' writing ability. Meanwhile, learners' attitudes towards feedback may influence the effectiveness of such feedback (Schulz,1996). Accordingly, investigations into learners' attitudes to teacher feedback are of great importance in order to make clear whether their expectations consist with those of their teachers.The present study investigates Chinese college English students' attitudes towards teacher feedback, aiming to fill the gaps in previous study to some extent. It is guided by the following research questions:1) To what extent do college English students pay attention to teacher feedback in EFL writing? Do their different language levels affect their attitudes? 2) What are the college English teachers' actual practices in giving feedback to students' writing? 3) What are college English students' expectations for teacher feedback in EFL writing? The participants of this study are 324 non-English majors from Shandong University of Finance; and the two instruments employed are questionnaire and interview.Some main findings revealed through the analysis the data collected in this study are as follows:1) Chinese college English students at different levels have different attitudes towards teacher feedback in EFL writing, though they all pay much attention to teacher feedback. In terms of the extent to which learners pay attention to teacher feedback, learners at high proficiency level pay less attention to teacher feedback than those at low proficiency level do both in the preliminary and the final draft.2) Some mismatches do exist between the actual teacher feedback and students' preference for them. In practice, teachers choose more traditional ways to give feedback to students'writings and they pay less attention to other forms such as conferencing or opening a course blog. As to the feedback-focuses, teachers prefer the contents to form.Apart from some limitations in the present study, there are some implications in its findings for the future Chinese EFL writing teaching. In order to give more appropriate and effective feedbacks, college English teachers should have the awareness to take the learners'attitudes towards teacher feedback into consideration and make changes in their teaching practice according to different students at different proficiency levels. At the meantime, they are suggested to adopt more ways in giving feedback to arouse students' interests in English writing, and hopefully to finally promote their ability in EFL writing.