A Study Of The Effects Of Teacher Feedback On Improving The Accuracy Of Business English Writing

Teacher feedback on student writing has received considerable attention from second language acquisition researchers and become one of the most actively discussed areas of second language writing. One of the frequently examined issues is the efficacy of teacher feedback that has been actively discussed up to date. The other concern is the effects of various types of teacher feedback on accuracy of student writing. Despite the fact that a number of studies have been conducted on teacher feedback on student writing, no clear conclusion has been drawn. Accuracy is a basic requirement for business English writing, but few researchers have investigated the effects of teacher feedback on improving the accuracy of business English writing in China.In order to explore the effects of teacher feedback on improving the accuracy of business English writing, under the guidance of process genre writing approach, interaction, feedback and noticing, the present author conducts two studies:two questionnaires (Study 1) and an experimental research (Study 2). Study 1 tries to investigate students' and teachers' attitudes and views concerning feedback on business English writing. Study 2 tries to investigate the effects of three different types of feedback for improvement of business English writing accuracy.60 students were randomly divided them into three groups. Group 1 receives the teacher feedback of "indicating errors and giving codes of errors". Group 2 receive "giving codes and corrections of errors". Group 3 receive "indicating errors and corrections of errors".The statistics of Study 1 demonstrated that most teachers and students have positive attitudes towards feedback on business English writing. Students prefer the feedback of "indicating errors and corrections of errors" to the feedback of "indicating errors and giving codes of errors" and "giving codes and corrections of errors".The result of Study 2 showed all the three types of teacher feedback have effects on increasing and improving writing accuracy to some extent.The feedback of "indicating errors and corrections of errors" is the most effective one among them. But the feedback of "indicating errors and giving codes of errors" is more effective than the feedback of "giving codes and corrections of errors". The result also showed the combination of full, direct, explicit teacher feedback has a significant effect on improving students'writing accuracy in new drafts in a short-term period and student's revision after teacher feedback is very necessary in improving business writing quality, especially in writing accuracy.On the basis of the results of the two studies, the present author also found the preferences of students positively influence their writing achievements.Based on theses findings, pedagogical implications to improve teacher feedback practices were addressed.