‘Written corrective feedback for L2 development’ Dept of Ed lecture by Prof. John Bitchener (Auckland Uni of Tech)

Abstract: Whether or not written CF can play a role in L2 development is an issue that has been debated on a number of fronts since Truscott (1996) claimed that the practice should be abandoned on theoretical, empirical and pedagogical grounds. Prior to the debate that ensued, and on the assumption that written CF can facilitate L2 development, a limited body of research had begun to investigate the relative extent to which different types of written CF might aid such development. In response to Truscott’s denunciation of the practice, a number of teachers/researchers began to extend the focus of these pedagogically-oriented investigations and asked whether or not, and the extent to which, written CF could be expected to contribute to the development of L2 knowledge. Thus, the focus of the empirical research was on the accuracy of the output resulting from a processing of the feedback (that is, a product rather than a process focus). Some of the studies were critiqued because of design/execution flaws or because they had not focused on explaining why some learners benefitted from the feedback while others appeared not to have benefitted. In more recent studies, a growing attention has been given to overcoming the weaknesses of earlier studies and to exploring, in more theoretically-motivated studies, why learners may produce or fail to produce accurate output immediately after receiving written CF and over time. While some consideration has been given in recent publications to theoretical explanations of why learners may benefit immediately from written CF, more attention needs to be given to modelling the development process over time and to testing, by means of longitudinal studies, the validity of such predictions. The aim of this presentation, then, is to discuss these stages in the development of our knowledge and to suggest where future efforts would do well to focus.