Individual Differences Revisited: How To Respond To Student Writing Effectively

Briefly reviewing the focuses in writing researches in recent years, this paper identifies the attitudes that teachers and student writers possess toward written feedback, stressing the importance of looking into EFL (English as a foreign language) learner's individual differences. The paper argues that the individual differences in question can be analyzed in terms of emotional factors, motivations, learning styles, and the preference of language learning strategies. Such an approach holds significant implications for improving the teaching of writings in senior high schools, for it helps to throw light on what kind of feedback on students' written work tends to be effective, serving the purpose of revealing the features of various types of writing corrections and of adapting response strategies to meet individual needs.