Feedback as ZPD Regulation for EFL Undergraduate Students'' Writing

• Main Authors: Nai-hsin Chang, 張乃心
• Other Authors: Teng-Lung Peng
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2010
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/90116157254007363250

碩士 === 雲林科技大學 === 應用外語系碩士班 === 98 === The present study aimed to inquire into what influence of feedback provided within language learners’ zone of proximal development (ZPD) could possibly have on their revisions, revising process and their learning in English writing. One basic writing class of 36 EFL college students participated in the study. This study involved two different manners of feedback provision, that is, ZPD and non-ZPD groups. The students who received regulatory feedback were the ZPD group, whereas those who gained suggestions from the peer feedback sheets were the non-ZPD group. Pre- and post-tests, taped recorded feedback sessions, peer feedback sheets, process logs, interview and student texts were the major data to be analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively. Findings of this study indicated that participants of the ZPD group were capable of revising their drafts based on almost all the regulatory feedback they received while those in the non-ZPD group seemed to have a hard time making global revisions according to the one-directional feedback they gained. Though there was not much difference in strategy use between the two groups during the revising process, thought-changing mediated writing strategies were the only strategy that was exclusively employed by the student writers in the ZPD group. Furthermore, both groups made great improvements in EFL writing proficiency. The student writers in the ZPD group progressed significantly in the aspects of organization, content and linguistic accuracy, while those of the non-ZPD group in organization and content. Although there were no remarkable differences between two groups, the research revealed how regulatory feedback could possibly facilitate EFL college students’ revisions, revising process and their learning in EFL writing. The researcher also offered some implications and suggestions for EFL writing teachers in their classroom practices or researchers for their future studies.