Current Projects

Feedback strategies to improve the writing skills of intermediate-level EFL students at the university level (MA thesis).  The purpose of this action research project is to identify a methodology intended to give feedback on writing to the students and to measure its effectiveness. 

The use of blogs and other social media to provide feedback on writing to EFL students at the University level and to help them develop critical thinking skills.

        Contact Roberto Alvira for details

Best practice in supervisor feedback to thesis students in Applied Linguistics, Marketing and Mathematics and Mathematical Sciences in New Zealand universities.

    Contact John Bitchener for details

Individual Differences in Written Corrective Feedback (In progress, Sept.-Dec. 2009). Using a case-study approach, 14 students in a pre-baccalaureate university ESL course were followed for a semester as they received targeted corrective feedback on written errors.  Each participant was interviewed at three different points, and four different pieces of in-class writing were collected for each student.

Teacher Philosophies and Practices in Responding to Student Writing (September-January 2009).   College writing instructors from eight tertiary institutions were surveyed (N=129) and volunteers were interviewed (N=23) to discover the real-world response practices of writing instructors and the beliefs and philosophies that shape those practices.  For each interview participant, a sample of student texts with teacher commentary was collected and analyzed.

    Contact Dana Ferris for details

Learning to comment on ESL writing – learning to use teacher comments in revisions. The project explores how student teachers learn to comment on ESL student writing and examines how ESL students deal with the comments received.  The project involves student teachers and ESL teachers from three consecutive terms.

    Contact Hedy McGarrell for details

Feedback on writing: Investigating the effectiveness of contingency responsive feedback. In this study we are investigating the effect of tailoring the explicitness of the feedback to the students’ needs.

Investigating the efficacy of different forms of feedback.  In this large scale study (n=72) we investigated the effectiveness of reformulations and editing as two forms of feedback.  Factors investigated include: learners’ L2 proficiency, processing (individuals vs. in pairs), and task type.

    Contact Naomi Storch for details