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Since the theory of feedback was introduced into the teaching of English writing, the effectiveness of writing teaching has improved a lot. Therefore, deep studies on feedback are needed so as to strengthen student’s writing skills. Different methods of teacher’s feedback will produce different results, which can also influence student’s writing level. So exploring suitable ways on teacher’s feedback for students is much more important. The research discusses the implications on the application of feedback to English writing in senior high schools with three purposes. Firstly, it examines the effectiveness of feedback to English writing level in high schools. Secondly, different impacts on the types of feedback to English writing will be found in the research. Thirdly, student’s attitude to feedback will be presented in the study. Then the enlightenment of the teaching of English writing can be acquired through data analysis and research findings in senior high schools. Feedback can provide essential information on and for students’ performance. It is inconsistent between students’ needs and the types of feedback which teachers can offer. Therefore, it is crucial to investigate and understand the student’s reactions and preferences about teacher feedback in English writing.
Ten years ago, the development of English teaching, especially writing teaching has undergone many changes, but one element hasn’t changed yet, which is the significance of teachers’ response to students’ writing (Dana Ferris,1995). Some research findings suggest that students attach much importance to feedback which is considered to be very useful. Many students really want mistakes in their writings corrected and they take a positive reaction to written comments. Some scholars study how feedback lead students to realize “the communicative effective of the text” through the “cycles of revision”. Fathman and Whalley (1990) think that the comments on content is effective. Most studies show that feedback plays a great role in English writing in senior high schools. Students can make advancement by teacher feedback.
In China, few researches have been done in investigating the effect of feedback on English writing. Some scholars have made empirical researches. The results demonstrate that teachers’ written feedback is effective in evaluating student’s writing work. Studies also present that the overall comment on structure and language form is a helpful means to strengthen the student’s writing in regard to the effect of feedback. Another scholars argue that if any form of language teaching was to intervene in the process of learning, then one question was how to perform the intervention in favor of students. It is surprising to find that there has been so limited researches on the effect of feedback in English writing in China. Previous studies may not be suitable for Chinese students. Therefore, further studies are needed in our context.
Ⅱ. Feedback Theories
2.1 Definition of Feedback
The specific meaning of feedback varies from different contexts. The term “feedback” originated from a theory of engineering. Its original meaning is the process in which some of the output of a system is returned to its input in order to regulate its further output. In Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics (2000), feedback refers to “any information that provides a report on the result of behavior”. However, Ramaprasad thinks that feedback is “information about the gap between the actual level and the reference level of a system parameter which is used to alter the gap in some way.”
In the teaching of language, feedback often refers to information returned to students for the purpose of enhancing and strengthening their learning after the end of the lessons (Ur, 1998). Ur’s view of feedback is frequently referred by many following researchers. Kulhavy (1977) gives a comparatively earlier but general definition of feedback. He thinks that feedback is “any of the abundant procedures which are used to a student if an instructional respond is right or wrong”. Feedback means “readers provide information input for authors which is convenient for authors to revise the article” (Keh, 1990). So it is obvious that feedback has an aspiring influence on the student’s language consciousness so that student’s English writing ability can be improved. Then the effect of feedback can make students have the thought of evaluation and creativity. Wlodkowski (1999) believes that feedback is the information that students receive about the quality of their work, for example, notes on the written assignments. Other scholars explain the connotation of feedback: Interactive atmosphere in classroom guides students to revise their writing and express their thoughts clearly according to the information of feedback.