The goal of this study is to examine teacher feedback, learner uptake, and feedback perceptions in an adult Chinese as a Foreign Language (CFL) context. A 200-level Chinese reading course was observed for data collection. Participants included 13 students and one teacher. Thirteen class sessions (10 hours) were video-taped. A short survey, given at the end of each of the last six class sessions, was designed to elicit the teacher’s and the students’ perceptions of feedback frequency. The participants were not informed of the focus of this research at the beginning of data collection. Video-recorded data was fully transcribed and coded using Panova and Lyster’s (2002) feedback categorization. The teacher’s response to the survey was compared to that of the students’ regarding perceptions of feedback frequency. The results showed that the teacher provided feedback to 68.1% of all students’ errors. On average there was one feedback move every 2.4 minutes. All feedback types in Panova and Lyster’s model were present, and there were a few new moves, namely “asking a direct question,” “directing question to other students,” and “using L1-English.” A total of 245 teacher feedback moves occurred during the observation. Recasts accounted for 56.7% of all feedback moves, followed by metalinguistic feedback which accounted for 10.6%. Elicitation moves achieved the highest uptake rate (94.1%). Next, explicit correction and metalinguistic feedback had 88.9% and 53.8% uptake rate respectively. Concerning perceptions of feedback, the teacher was more accurate in perceiving four types of feedback while the students were accurate about three. It was concluded that recast was the predominant type of feedback in this study. Other explicit types of feedback were more successful in leading to learner uptake. The teacher and the students were generally not accurate in perceiving the frequency of each feedback type, due to the challenge of remembering the feedback move after the lesson had finished. The pedagogical implication is that teachers should consider a wide range of feedback techniques, especially more explicit types, to better engage students in a reading class. / Graduate

Students’ perceptions of feedback can impact other writing constructs, such as motivation, self-efficacy, self-regulation, and achievement (Ekholm, Zumbrunn, & Conklin, 2015; Magno & Amarles, 2011; Zumbrunn, Marrs, & Mewborn, 2016; Zumbrunn, 2013). The goal of this study was to develop a valid and reliable instrument for measuring students’ perceptions of writing feedback. Evidence for validity and reliability were gathered throughout the development of the Student Perceptions of Writing Feedback (PoWF) Scale, a self-report questionnaire that asks students how they perceive feedback they get on their writing from their teachers. Items on the PoWF reflected the extant literature on students’ feedback perceptions. The PoWF was administered to 275 secondary students attending a suburban, mid-Atlantic high school. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) yielded a four-factor structure of students’ feedback perceptions that accounted for 55 percent of the variance. Given the important role feedback may have in improving student writing, it is important to understand students’ perceptions of writing feedback, which is a relatively new construct. This measurement study was a critical first step toward a better understanding of students’ writing feedback perceptions as well as related theoretical implications.

The influence of affective factors on learning has been studied by researchers in a range of disciplines, including within SLA research, where tests measuring anxiety specific to second language writing have been developed (Cheng, 2004). Recent studies on instructor perceptions show increasing numbers of second language learners (SLL) enrolled in mainstream university courses with instructors providing varying types of feedback to these learners. The current study investigates how the writing anxiety of second language learners in a mainstream context may relate to writing performance and how feedback anxiety resulting from one written assignment may be connected to writing performance on a subsequent assignment. Using modified writing anxiety survey instruments, 16 SLLs enrolled in two mainstream university English composition courses (taught by two instructors) completed two surveys, an informal interview, and an online questionnaire about feedback on two writing assignments prepared for their course; feedback and a grade from one assignment and a grade from a second assignment were also collected. Mainstream instructors were found to balance feedback provided to learners between content and organization feedback and grammatical feedback, similar to findings on feedback practices for second language instructors (Evans et al., 2010). Statistical analyses between survey results and grades revealed negative (non-statistically significant) correlations between anxiety scores (from surveys) and grades. Participants expressed 16 different emotions in response to feedback through qualitative data collection methods (open-ended survey questions, interviews, and online questionnaire); hope, acceptance, and anxiety were the three most commonly emotions reported. The number and complexity of emotional responses reported indicate that anxiety is only one of numerous responses to feedback and research on the effects of affective factors on learning may benefit from investigations of other emotions, including pleasant or positive emotions. Two data collection methods converged in reporting that nearly all participants made use of feedback through one or more forms of follow up action. Continued research into the complex emotions inspired by writing feedback may provide a deeper understanding of how SLLs may moderate their own emotional responses and provide instructors insight into additional factors that may affect learners’ writing performance. / Graduate / 0290 / amalec@uvic.ca