The Effectiveness Of Written Corrective Feedback And Language Analytic Ability On Chinese EFL Learners’ Acquisition Of English Generic NPs

The effectiveness of written corrective feedback (CF) has long been in dispute in L2teaching, especially after Truscott’s (1996) review paper, in which he concluded thatwritten CF was only ineffective but even harmful and called for the abandonment ofwritten CF. His controversial claims stirred up heated discussions on theeffectiveness of written CF in both second language (L2) writing and secondlanguage acquisition (SLA). The written CF literature has offered an array oftheoretical counterarguments and empirical studies demonstrating that CF can resultin writing accuracy and language acquisition. However, due to their differentresearch concerns and different methodologies, conflicting results and conclusionsare reached. Therefore, more studies should be carried out to investigate theeffectiveness of written CF. Besides, different learning background makes itnecessary to explore whether written CF is beneficial to Chinese EFL learners.On the basis of the previous empirical studies on the efficacy of written CF, thestudy was undertaken through a quasi-experiment to investigate (1) the effectivenessof written CF on Chinese EFL learners’ acquisition of English generic noun phrases(NPs) and the differential effect of meta-linguistic feedback and indirect feedback;and (2) the extent to which language analytic ability mediate the effect of writtenCF.The experiment followed a quasi-experimental research design with a pretest–treatment–posttest (Posttest1)–delayed posttest (Posttest2) structure, using intactEFL classrooms. Three groups were formed: a meta-linguistic correction group (n=27), an indirect correction group (n=26), and a control group (n=26). Theparticipating students were required to write3pieces of argumentative and finish3sets of translation tests. During the process, they received two sessions of treatment. The language analytic ability test was administered at the very beginning of theresearch. The scores in Pretest, Posttest1and Posttest2as well as the languageanalytic ability were analyzed and compared.The results found that (1) Whereas the indirect group outscored the controlgroup only in the writing tests in Posttest1, the meta-linguistic group outperformedthe control group both in the writing tests and the translation tests in the posttests;(2)A significantly positive association was found in the indirect group between thelanguage analytic ability scores and the translation test scores, but no significantlypositive association in the meta-linguistic group between their tests scores and thelanguage analytic ability scores. The results showed that (1) Written CF targeting asingle linguistic feature facilitated learners’ acquisition when meta-linguisticfeedback was provided;(2) Meta-linguistic feedback was more effective thanindirect feedback in facilitating Chinese EFL learners’ acquisition of English genericNPs;(3) Learners with a high level of language analytic ability benefited only fromindirect feedback.