Investigating The Effect Of Direct Corrective Feedback And Coded Corrective Feedback On Senior High School Students' Writing Accuracy

Although previous research on feedback in second language(L2)writing has substantially generated meaningful insights into issues regarding written corrective feedback(WCF)and its effective feedback practices over the past two decades,very few studies have looked into students' processing of WCF.Among a small number of studies on students' processing of WCF there is little information on how an individual utilizes and takes gains from WCF,and there remain controversies over which type of WCF is more effective.Informed by sociocognitive perspectives,this longitudinal mixed-methods research incorporating a quasi-experimental study and a multi-case study attempted to address the gaps above.Two intact classes(110 senior high grade one students)took part in the quasi-experimental study,and eight students with different linguistic levels from two classes participated in the multiple-case study.The quasi-experimental study applied a pretest-treatment-posttest-delayed-posttest design.Data collection resulted in two sets of data to address the following two research questions: 1)What are the different effects,if any,of direct WCF and coded WCF on high school students' writing accuracy? 2)How do high school students process and operate the two types of WCF?The first dataset contained accuracy scores in the three tests(i.e.,pretest,posttest and delayed posttest),and four-round treatment sessions.SPSS software(version 23.0)was applied to perform calculation of descriptive and inferential data for the three tests to ascertain the disparities in writing accuracy of the two WCF classes(RQ1).As revealed by the findings of quasi-experimental study,the students in both coded WCF class and direct WCF class showed significant improvement in the accuracy of their writing after receiving WCF during the 14-week session.Nevertheless,there was no significant difference between coded WCF and direct WCF regarding the improvement in students' writing accuracy.The second dataset comprised eight case participants' writing drafts(originals and revisions),semi-structured interviews transcripts and classroom observation field notes.Data analysis consisted of text analysis and content analysis.The eight case participants manifested noticeable individual differences regarding their processing of the feedback received.The differences within and across case participants were in(1)their capability to employ metacognitive operations and cognitive operations to further their engagement(2)their depth of processing,i.e.,the extent of noticing and understanding of WCF,(3)their utilization of other revision-related strategies to facilitate their processing,and(4)their revision operations.It illustrates the great complexity of individual students' processing of WCF.This research contributes to demonstrating the flexible,complicated,and multifaceted nature of WCF activity,which not only expands our knowledge of the differential effects of direct and coded WCF but also sheds light on how individual students process the two types of feedback.Additionally,it provides meaningful pedagogical implications for high school writing instruction,suggesting that teachers should consider beyond only learners' written products.