Effects of teacher-scaffolded and self-scaffolded corrective feedback compared to direct corrective feedback on grammatical accuracy in English L2 writing

Abstract

Abstract This study aims to increase written grammatical accuracy by facilitating learners’ use of corrective feedback (CF). A quantitative quasi-experimental study design is used to compare effects of traditional (teacher-provided) scaffolding and self-scaffolding, and compares these to unscaffolded direct written CF. Participants were Korean EFL university STEM students (n\u202f=\u202f109) in compulsory academic English writing classes in South Korea (hereafter Korea). To elicit metalinguistic reflections, traditional scaffolding was provided in 1-to-1 conferences, and self-scaffolding was provided by worksheets. Unscaffolded direct written CF was provided to a standard-treatment comparison group. The study was designed for ecological validity, with data being derived mainly from classroom writing samples, worksheets, and audio-recordings of conferences. Results provide support for previous CF research: mixed ANOVA results suggest that all three groups experienced similar, significant, and durable increases in grammatical accuracy. The study contributes to existing knowledge by a) using linear regression to demonstrate that quality of metalinguistic reflections does not necessarily predict an increase in grammatical accuracy; b) establishing that there may be difficulties in scaffolding oral metalinguistic reflections with the described population; and c) drawing on data from the background survey and interviews to inform the interpretation of the results.