The Integration Of Rubric-referenced Teacher Feedback In Teaching Chinese Undergraduates Academic Writing

With the fast pace of globalization,there is a growing need for international talents.In the academic area,this trend is characterized by the rising standards for talents who are not only competent to “speak” fluent English,but also to “write” in an academic and formal manner.In this sense,the significance of teaching and learning academic writing cannot be overestimated,especially in EFL contexts.Among methods of enhancing students' academic writing skills,teacher feedback is regarded by scholars as favorably essential and effective.Specifically,Jonsson & Svingby(2007)have proposed utilizing scoring rubrics as reliable tools for teacher feedback,since rubrics not only reveal students' strengths and weaknesses,but also in turn guide the course design.Studies abroad have manifested that rubrics are valuable in supporting students' learning;some have explored rubric effects on writing,yet studies in China on this issue are still insufficient.Therefore,this study is an attempt to investigate the utilization of rubric-referenced teacher feedback in students' academic writings,including the effects of rubrics on students' academic writing performance in the Chinese EFL setting.To achieve the objectives,both quantitative and qualitative methods were adopted in this study.First of all,a specific course-oriented rubric was designed and the rubric reliability was examined in the first writing task.Then quantitative data was collected from writing exercises and the final test.Besides,semi-structured interviews of students constituted the qualitative data.By SPSS analysis and text analysis,the results are as follows:First,in terms of both inter-and intra-reliability,this course-oriented rubric is trustworthy to serve as an assessment tool for subsequent collection of students' scores.Second,rubric-referenced teacher feedback indeed has exerted positive effects on students' academic writing,especially on students' performance in terms of academic format and content.Furthermore,the effects vary on different levels of students.Third,the functions of rubric-referenced teacher feedback include modularized learning objectives which assist students focus on learning targets;quantified learning progress which helps the students clarify strengths and weaknesses;and finally improved course design which facilitates the teacher to flexibly guide the teaching of academic writing.This study designs a course-specific academic writing rubric for teacher feedback and tests the rubric effectiveness on students' academic writing performance.This studyis aimed to provide a new angle for college teachers to value the practical use of rubrics as a tool for providing teacher feedback to cultivate more academic talents.