The Effects Of Direct/Indirect Feedback On Improving Field-Dependent/-Independent Students' Writing Ability

The effects of written corrective feedback on students' English writing have been an issue of great controversies and debates in the field of second language acquisition for a long time.The author made a research on Senior One students to study the effects of direct feedback and indirect feedback on improving field-dependent/-independent students' writing ability which can be shown by complexity,accuracy and fluency in English writing.And the T-unit was introduced as the gauge to test the three indexes.The research questions are as follows:(1)What are the effects of direct feedback and indirect feedback on field-dependent/-independent students' writing complexity?(2)What are the effects of direct feedback and indirect feedback on field-dependent/-independent students' writing accuracy?(3)What are the effects of direct feedback and indirect feedback on field-dependent/-independent students' writing fluency?(4)How is the students' understanding of teachers' written corrective feedback? And what are the students' attitudes and reactions towards written corrective feedback?The findings of the present research are as follows:(1)No matter field-dependent students or field-independent students,neither direct feedback nor indirect feedback has significant effects on improving their writing ability.Students' writing ability can be shown by complexity,accuracy and fluency in English writing.However,after receiving different types of written corrective feedback in their first writings,neither field-dependent students nor field-independent students make significant progress in writing complexity,accuracy and fluency in their second writings.(2)Students' attitudes and reactions towards English writing are relatively negative.Compared with other parts of English learning,students spend less time in English writing.They attach less importance to English writing.And their attitudes and reactions towards written corrective feedback have no reason for optimism.(3)Most students do not have enough learning autonomy.They cannot make full use of written corrective feedback,which means that feedback cannot be fully absorbed by them.As a result,the effects of written corrective feedback are limited.What's more,the effects of direct feedback and indirect feedback will be more limited on field-dependent students than the effects onfield-independent students.(4)Most students are fond of direct feedback.They believe that direct feedback is clearer and more convenient than indirect feedback.They can directly know the right form of expression from teachers' written corrective feedback.At last,the author hopes that the present research can have a certain significance in the use of written corrective feedback in English writing teaching for English teachers in senior high school.