Teacher and Peer Written Feedback in the ESL Composition Classroom: Appropriation, Stance, and Authorship

Abstract

While studies have shown that teacher and peer feedback are beneficial to students, research has also found that teachers can appropriate students' texts in their feedback, taking away authorship in the process (Brannon & Knoblauch, 1982; Goldstein, 2004). The present study addressed the type of written feedback that I gave my ESL composition students and the type of feedback they gave each other during the writing process, and it examined their responses to the feedback they received. As the response stance taken when providing feedback is a determiner of the level of control the feedback conveys (Straub & Lunsford, 1995), I investigated the stances that both I and my students took while providing feedback. Since my goal had been to avoid text appropriation, I wanted to learn if I was successful in taking a less controlling stance in the feedback that I gave to my students. In addition, I wanted to discover whether the stance my students took while giving feedback would change over the course of the semester. Further, I used a consciousness-raising pedagogical tool — the Cover Sheet — to examine the responses of the students to the feedback to determine if they thought critically about the feedback they had received. At the end of the study, I discovered that my intention to only provide feedback that was not considered controlling was too idealistic and that at least for ESL students, it is easier to understand feedback if it is more direct. Additionally, I found that those students who had an easier time understanding the feedback I gave them and used it to revise their papers ended up getting a higher grade in the course.