| This dissertation presents the results of two studies that examine the relationship between teacher feedback and the quality of writing produced by advanced-level second language (L2) learners studying law in the U.S. Two groups of students were compared: (1) one group (the "feedback group") which received semester-long individualized feedback on both the form (e.g., grammar and lexical choice) and content (e.g., legal argumentation) of their writing, and (2) another group which received only one set of written comments on the quality of their legal argumentation.; Study 1 employed an analytic rubric that rated the grammar, lexicon, global organization, local organization, and argumentation of the two drafts of a legal memoranda submitted by the two groups of students. Study 2 utilized a multifaceted approach for assessing the students' writing, employing (1) an analytic rubric, (2) objective measures of the linguistic accuracy, fluency, and complexity of the students' writing, and (3) metadiscourse analyses which examined the discourse used by the students to structure their texts and to signal their stance towards the content of those texts. In addition, two surveys---questionnaires and interviews---were used to gather information on the students' views and insights on the feedback and instruction they received over the course of the semester.; Based on the results of these analyses, it is argued that while both groups made significant improvements to the quality of their memoranda, the extra feedback and instruction the feedback group received allowed them to make greater gains in organization and argumentation, as well as in the linguistic accuracy and complexity of their writing. In addition, the extra feedback and instruction appeared to give the feedback group a greater awareness of their audience and of the genre-specific conventions of the U.S. legal discourse community within which they were writing. Finally, analyses of questionnaire and interview data indicate that the feedback group valued the feedback they received and believed that it assisted them in making significant improvements to the quality of their legal memoranda. |
