An Empirical Research On Different Feedback Types And Their Efficacy In EFL Writing Teaching

Feedback in writing has attracted the attention of an increasing number of English teachers and researchers for years. Writing ability test has long been an indispensable part of all kinds of large-scale English tests. However, in the process of teaching, English writing training has not received quite as much attention as reading or listening, and this has been leading to the general low level of writing ability of Chinese college students. For instance, in College English Tests of Band Four and Band Six, writing scores are generally low, a great number of students’ English writing levels remain almost the same as those in high school, consequently, their writing ability demand prompt improvement. However，how to improve the efficacy of English writing instruction becomes a big problem facing all teachers. Lack of effective corrective feedback is thought to be the crux of this problem.In corrective feedback, how to improve the efficiency of teacher feedback, what role might peer feedback play in Chinese culture in which teachers are regarded as authoritative, and what impact the world advanced Writing Roadmap, an English writing assessment system might have on students’ writing level, are all important aspects investigated in this research.This research investigated students’ expectations for feedback and their attitudes towards different types of feedback given on their writing. Moreover, a diachronic experimental research was conducted on the impacts of the three different feedback approaches adopted in EG1, EG2and CG on the improvement of students’ writing scores to discover more effective ways of feedback.The experimental group1in this study adopted the feedback approach of first draft receiving peer feedback, revised draft undergoing teacher feedback; and the experimental group2used the Writing Roadmap, an online scoring tool to give automatic feedback, coupled with teacher feedback as supplementation, both had satisfactory effects. Both approaches worked better than traditional teacher feedback applied in the control group, which had a relatively minor effect on improving students’ writing scores. And the convenience, efficiency, and accuracy of online scoring tool are superior. It could be expected that this research would bring new enlightenment to college English writing teaching.