Conversations about composition: Investigating writing conference and faculty feedback on writing in German as a foreign language

Some attention has been paid in recent years to responses to student compositions, whether in peer group review or in writing conferences. Much of this attention has focused on compositions by students writing in English either as a first or a second language. However, very few studies have been conducted regarding response to compositions written in languages other than English. This dissertation investigates response to third year German students' compositions by comparing the feedback received from the course instructor with the feedback received by trained peer-consultants in a writing conference. The feedback from both sources on two different compositions was collected for nine students. A quantitative analysis revealed that there was a striking similarity between the quantity and type of feedback received from each source; the majority of the comments relating to grammatical forms in German. This analysis also revealed that comments regarding the content of the composition were overwhelmingly made by the instructor.; In addition to this analysis, case studies are provided for three of the students, paying attention to ways the students used the feedback from each source when revising their compositions. In each case study I investigate the tendency of the student to attempt to correct structures while reading the composition aloud, the actual comments and suggestions received from each source and the final revision made. Based on these analyses I attempt to determine which feedback students assimilated into the revised version of their writing. This dissertation reveals valuable implications for implementation of writing conferences by showing that the type and quality of feedback elicited in a writing conference is quite similar in comparison with feedback from the instructor, with the exception that conference feedback focused almost solely on forms, while the instructor feedback dealt additionally with content. The results also speak to the value of the writing conference dialog and reading aloud for self-evaluation of interlanguage and thereby aid in acquisition. Finally, the results uncover implications for future research studies in the area of writing response focusing on one type of feedback or the other.