A Case Study On English Teachers' Written Feedback Exercises In Senior High School

Writing is one of the important skills that language learners should master.English writing has always been important but difficult for most senior high school students in China.A large number of researches have indicated that teachers' written feedback plays a significant role in the improvement of English writing ability.This paper intends to find out the current situation of teachers' written feedback and students' responses in the senior high school.All the data has been collected from Chengdu NO.8 Middle School.Throughout the semester from September 2017 to January 2018,quantitative and qualitative data were first collected by means of questionnaires,samplings and interviews,and then cross-examined to keep the validity and credibility of the research.The following findings have been gained.Direct feedback,indirect feedback,commentary,grading and model texts are all adopted in teachers' written feedback in this school.(1)Direct feedback is most commonly employed,however,it generates the lowest revision rate from the students,which indicates its ineffectiveness.(2)Indirect feedback generates the highest revision rate from the students despite the fact that indirect feedback only accounts for a small portion of all the feedbacks.Meanwhile,students expect their teachers to point out their errors and correct some selectively.(3)As for comments,teachers focus more on thecontent which benefits long-term language acquisition while students have a preference to suggestions which can help raise the writing scores in a short time.(4)In addition,satisfaction with the grading system of the writing is reported from both teachers and students,which indicates its effectiveness.(5)Copying a model text after they get their first revised written work from the teacher is acceptable to most of the students.From the findings in this study,different perceptions and requirements from teachers and students lead to the ineffectiveness of teachers' written feedback.Therefore,it is suggested teachers and students be supposed to improve their communication in order to enhance the effectiveness of teachers' written feedback in the senior high school.