This comparative case study examines how writing teachers comment on basic writing students' papers, how students respond to these comments, and how students take risks in their revising process. Four U.S., four ESOL basic writing students, and four basic writing teachers participated in the study. Three writing samples of the students' choices including drafts, revisions, and final papers were collected, coded, and analyzed to see the amount of risk-taking. Students were asked to complete the Daly and Miller's Writing Apprehension Test along with a Demographic Information Check Sheet. Each student was interviewed three times: once for each writing sample, and each teacher was interviewed once. The study revealed that students in the study appreciated teachers' written comments on their multiple-draft papers, and that teachers' comments, particularly the ones on content and organization, did help improve their writing ability and motivated these students to take risks in trying new ideas in revision. The ESOL writers tend to take fewer risks and regard revision as making lexical changes because of their unfamiliarity with the English usage and writing conventions, while the U.S. writers take more risks and view revision as a recursive process with different levels of attention.The main purpose of the study was to find out what major factors motivated students' risk-taking in their revisions so that writing teachers will be able to provide comments that motivate students to become better writers. This study will contribute to the understanding of what students really think of teachers' written comments. / Department of English