Written corrective feedback

Abstract

There is a widespread consensus in the field of English language teaching that feedback plays a key role in students’ language development. Research shows that that feedback can help students relearn and repair language elements that they have not fully acquired and guide them in further strengthening and expanding their learning. This chapter focuses on written corrective feedback (WCF), one of the most widely researched and debated topics in the second language writing literature. We first begin by providing the readers with an overview of the theory and research on WCF and the controversy around the question of what makes effective WCF in the language classroom. We then offer our perspectives and recommendations on the kinds of feedback that we feel are theoretically and pedagogically sound.