A Study Of The Effects Of Different Types Of Coded Error Feedback On Junior Middle School Students' English Writing

Written corrective feedback and teacher comments are essential parts of English writing course.In recent years,studies on the efficacy of different types of feedback and its effects on English writing have been heatedly debated by researchers at home and abroad,but limited research has been done on teacher comments.Previous studies mainly focus on direct feedback and indirect feedback,and relatively limited research has been done on coded error feedback.However,little attention has been paid to the research on comparing the effects of coded error feedback and the combination of coded error feedback and teacher comments on English writing.Therefore,the study aims to investigate the effects of different types of coded error feedback(coded error feedback only and coded error feedback with affective teacher comments)on junior middle school students' English writing in terms of writing motivation and writing proficiency.Based on interaction hypothesis,output hypothesis and affective filter hypothesis,the present study addresses two questions:1)What are the effects of different types of coded error feedback on junior middle school students' writing motivation?2)What are the effects of different types of coded error feedback on junior middle school students' writing proficiency?A total of 20 students of grade two from a normal junior middle school in Hunan Province participate in this study.All of them are divided into two groups: experimental group(who receive coded error feedback with affective teacher comments)and control group(who receive coded error feedback only).They are required to finish 4 writing tasks and answer a questionnaire.The duration of the experiment is 8 weeks,and the data collected from writing tasks and questionnaire is analyzed by SPSS.The major findings of this study are as follows:1)Both coded error feedback only and coded error feedback with affective teacher comments are effective in motivating students to take further actions to improve their writing,but coded error feedback with affective teacher comments outperforms coded error feedback only.2)Both coded error feedback only and coded error feedback with affective teacher comments have significant effects on writing proficiency,especially on grammar and content.However,coded error feedback with affective teacher comments is more effective,especially on wording and spelling and structure.The major findings indicate that it is imperative for teachers to apply the combination of coded error feedback and teacher comments to English writing teaching in junior middle school,coded error feedback with affective teacher comments is more effective in motivating students to take further actions to improve their writing,and it is more helpful for improving students' writing proficiency.The study provides more empirical evidence for interaction hypothesis,output hypothesis and affective filter hypothesis,and it also contributes to English writing teaching.However,due to the limited resources like sample size and materials,the effects of different coded error feedback on junior middle school students' English writing are partially presented in this study.