A Study On Chinese EFL Learners’ Incorporation Of Teacher Feedback And Peer Feedback

In EFL writing class, offering and receiving feedback is always looked on as oneof the most important procedures. However, among the studies about feedback, theeffectiveness of both teacher feedback and peer feedback are not without controversy.What’s more, in studies comparing both kinds of feedback, learners’ incorporation ofteacher feedback is comparatively considered as positive, while their incorporation ofpeer feedback is mainly treated as negative.Concerning this phenomenon, the present study chooses thirty-one participants inSoochow University to explore not only the authentic situation of Chinese EFLlearners’ incorporation of teacher feedback and peer feedback but also the strategiesthey use when incorporating both kinds of feedback by employing the method oftext-analysis，questionnaire and interview. Different from previous studies, in thepresent study, teacher feedback and peer feedback are presented to the participants atthe same time. After the participants revise their essays according to the feedback, theresearcher carries out questionnaire and interview. Data from questionnaire work as asupplement for the first research question which is about the participants’ incorporationof feedback, while data from the interview are used together with data fromtext-analysis to answer questions concerning the participants’ incorporating strategies.After data collection and analysis, the following conclusions are drawn out:1) theparticipants incorporated more teacher feedback than peer feedback; however, for bothkinds of feedback, they incorporated more than50%. As for the participants’incorporation of teacher and peer feedback in terms of grammar, organization andcontent, they incorporated much less feedback on content than that on grammar andorganization;2) when incorporating feedback, the participants employed the strategiesof referring to external help, of sticking to initial intentions, of concession and ofbelieving in authorities.According to the above conclusions, both teacher feedback and peer feedback arehelpful to EFL learners, and it is not wise to deny either of them. So at the end of thepresent study, the researcher provides some suggestions for feedback-offering in EFL writing classes, for example, Chinese EFL learners should be reminded or taught toemploy some strategies when they decide whether to accept a piece of feedback or not.Although there are limitations of this study, the researcher still hope it can providesome useful suggestions for both feedback providing in EFL writing classes and futurestudies on feedback.