Acase Studyof Senior High School English Teachers’ Beliefsand Practicesof Written Corrective Feedback

Written corrective feedback has received much attention in second language writing,but there are a few relevant studies on written corrective feedback beliefs and practices of senior high school English teachers in the Chinese context.Therefore,this study explored the consistency of high school English teachers’ beliefs and practices of written corrective feedback from three aspects: feedback types,focus,and extent,and compared the differences between novice and experienced teachers to promote their reflective practice and facilitate their development.This study adopted a case study method by conducting questionnaire survey and interviewing five novices and five experienced English teachers in a high school and analyzed 500 compositions with teachers’ feedback to answer these questions:(1)What are senior high school English teachers’ beliefs of written corrective feedback,and what are the differences between novice and experienced teachers?(2)What are senior high school English teachers’ practices of written corrective feedback,and what are the differences between novice and experienced teachers?(3)Are teachers’ beliefs consistent with their practices of written corrective feedback? If not,what are the possible reasons?The results show that:(1)In teachers’ beliefs,they unanimously agreed on the effect of written corrective feedback,and for the types of feedback,teachers considered direct feedback to be as important as indirect;in terms of feedback focus,teachers generally believed that feedback on global errors was more important than local errors,grammar errors are important as well;for the extent of feedback,teachers thought that they should correct errors that students cannot correct and most of the major errors.There was no significant difference between novice and experienced teachers in written corrective feedback beliefs.(2)In teachers’ practices,teachers provided both direct and indirect feedback,underlining or circling errors were used most frequently;in terms of feedback focus,teachers provided much more feedback on local errors than global errors,especially grammar errors;for the extent of feedback,most teachers tended to give selective feedback.And experienced teachers provided more indirect feedback,while novice teachers provide more direct.(3)High school English teachers’ beliefs were inconsistent with their practices of written correction feedback.First,teachers all believed that both global and local errors should be corrected,but they paid more attention to local errors in their practices;second,some teachers believed that both feedback types should be used,but they preferred one of them;finally,some teachers believed that all errors should be corrected but they gave more focused(selective)feedback.The reasons for the inconsistency between their beliefs and practices are insufficient teachers’ theoretical knowledge of second language writing,much pressure from Gaokao,their personality,educational experience,and teaching experience,etc.Therefore,some suggestions are proposed: teachers should learn more theoretical knowledge of written corrective feedback,and schools should regularly organize related training or discussion.In addition,teachers should interact more with students and constantly reflect on their beliefs and practices to promote teaching.