•  
  •  
 

Keywords

1. written corrective feedback, 2. coded feedback, 3. metalinguistic explanation, 4. grammatical accuracy, 5. length of writing (productivity)

Abstract

This study explored a way to help Japanese university students write longer essays while maintaining grammatical accuracy. Participants were three groups of students enrolled in a one-year EFL course in consecutive academic years (N = 111), and the number of words they wrote in 30 minutes and the number of errors made per 100 words were compared. To improve the participants’ grammatical accuracy, comprehensive coded feedback (e.g., Bonilla, et al., 2018, 2021; Hartshorn, et al., 2010) and selective metalinguistic explanation (e.g., Bitchener & Knoch, 2010; Sheen, 2007) were provided on the 12 paragraphs/essays they submitted. The first, sixth, and last essays were analyzed to assess their verb tense and mechanical errors. Regarding the length of writing, the first group kept writing about 150 words, the second group was encouraged to increase the length of writing at their own discretion, and the third group was systematically guided to write longer essays by following a prescribed guideline. The ANOVA results showed that the two groups that wrote longer essays significantly outperformed the short-essay group in the length of writing without sacrificing grammatical accuracy. The correlation analyses produced evidence against a possible trade-off between accuracy and fluency (Lambert & Kormos, 2014; Skehan, 2009).

Share

COinS
 
 

To view the content in your browser, please download Adobe Reader or, alternately,
you may Download the file to your hard drive.

NOTE: The latest versions of Adobe Reader do not support viewing PDF files within Firefox on Mac OS and if you are using a modern (Intel) Mac, there is no official plugin for viewing PDF files within the browser window.