Effects of Written Corrective Feedback on Chinese EFL Learners’ Cognitive Processes
Keywords:
written corrective feedback, writing process, pausing behavior, cognitive processing, pause factorsAbstract
Pauses, interruptions of the production process during writing, serves as windows to observe the cognitive processes when writing. This study involves 65 freshmen with 33 in the experimental group (EG) receiving written corrective feedback (WCF) and 32 in the control group (CG). Using Inputlog 8.0, this study records each student’s writing process during writing to explore the effects of WCF on writers’ pausing behaviors at both micro and macro levels. Research procedures follow a pattern of “writing, treatment and rewriting” and participants complete the writing tasks within three weeks. By dividing each writing event into 5 equal intervals, the results show that the total writing time of the EG is significantly longer in the rewriting stage, indicating that WCF can trigger “noticing” and prompt learners to focus more on the content and language form. The pausing features in each interval show that the writing stages of the EG are clear and concentrated, that is, the planning stage with low pause frequency and long pause time and the translation stage with high pause frequency and short pause time. In contrast, the CG has frequent cross-changes in pause frequency and duration in each interval, suggesting that the writing cognitive processes alternate frequently and text production is frequently interrupted. This indicates that WCF helps learners manage the writing process more effectively. Combined with the interview data, this paper further investigates the factors leading to differences in pausing behaviors among different groups to better inform L2 writing pedagogy.