Features of Electronic Feedback on Graduate Level Writing

Abstract

The bulk of research on written corrective feedback has explored the feedback practices for novice second language (L2) writers. As the number of graduate students in English-medium universities has increased in the last 25 years, the focus of written feedback research has shifted from studies on writings of language learners to studies on writings of graduate students. In an attempt to address this area in the literature, this study investigates electronic written feedback provided to graduate students during their master’s thesis and doctoral dissertation writing stages. The study specifically focuses on the linguistic features of feedback provided on graduate students’ writing and how such feedback is constructed throughout the writing process. To investigate this issue, a small corpus of feedback (previously) given to MA and PhD students in an English Language Teaching (ELT) department was analyzed. The findings show that, overall, question form was mostly preferred. The results indicated that while the methodology section feedback included mostly question forms, written feedback provided in the results section consisted of imperatives. The study concludes with research and teaching implications with regard to the use of electronic written feedback on graduate student writing.