EFFECTIVE WRITTEN FEEDBACK IN LANGUAGE LEARNING: A LITERATURE REVIEW

Abstract

Giving effective written feedback plays an essential role in improving students’ second language (L2) writing. It is an effective tool for language teaching and learning as it captures students’ attention on their strengths and weaknesses in L2 writing as well as enhancing students’ writing skills development. This allows unlimited chances for students to improve their writing accuracy as written feedback is a crucial medium in acknowledging students’ writing ability. Many researchers have used various written feedback strategies to show its effects on students’ improvement in writing. However, giving effective written feedback is not widely practised in Malaysian L2 classrooms as the teachers tend to focus more on the overall marks and grades that need to be achieved. The students are also always interested in knowing the marks and grades rather than focusing on how good the writing is and what makes a good writing. Therefore, this paper, based on reviews of past literature will explore the techniques of giving effective written feedback on students’ L2 writing. The findings show there are various effective techniques in giving written feedback on students’ writing. This study is useful to prove the effective use of various written feedback techniques on students’ L2 writing.