Investigating what feedback practices contribute to students’ writing motivation and engagement in Chinese EFL context: A large scale study

Abstract

While research on feedback in L2 writing has focused on the effects of a given or some types of feedback strategies on the accuracy of the grammar in student texts, revisions to writing, and/or the enhancement of writing quality, little is known about the influences of different writing feedback practices on learner affective factors such as writing motivation. To address this research void, based on data from 1190 students from 35 Chinese universities, this study developed a comprehensive L2 writing feedback scale and investigated how various L2 writing feedback strategies (i.e., scoring feedback, process-oriented feedback, expressive feedback, peer and self-feedback, and written corrective feedback) impact student writing motivation and engagement in Chinese EFL contexts. We found that expressive feedback turned out to be the most frequently used type of L2 writing feedback, and written corrective feedback (WCF) as the least frequently used one. Process-oriented feedback and WCF tended to discourage students’ motivation and engagement in L2 writing, whereas scoring, peer and self-feedback, and expressive feedback in particular seemed to boost student writing motivation and engagement. Pedagogical implications regarding how L2 writing teachers can use feedback strategies to enhance student writing motivation and classroom engagement were discussed.