| Since the 1970s saw the sprouting of psycholinguistics, the study of EFL writing has undertaken a new course, the central change being a shift from the Product Approach evaluating the writing product to the Process Approach probing the writing process. Instead of being the last step, composition commentary has consequently become an integral part of composition instruction. As a result, it is essential for every language teacher and researcher to consider how to make the most of teacher feedback in order to improve EFL learners' writing.This thesis aims to investigate the effects of four kinds of teacher feedback, namely direct correction, simple underlining of errors, underlining with description and content commentary.Specifically, the following research questions are addressed:1) Is teacher feedback effective?2) What is its effect on accuracy, fluency and overall quality?The 81 testees chosen for the present research were second-year English majors from an institute in Wuhan. All the subjects were required to revise their compositions on the basis of four kinds of teacher feedback. Tests are designed to measure the following: change in the accuracy of revisions and subsequent assignments, change in fluency and change in holistic ratings.Findings are that both direct correction and simple underlining of errors are better than underlining with description and content commentary for reducing long-term errors. Direct correction is best for producing accurate revisions while all the other kinds of feedback are effective.
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