Pedagogical intentions behind teacher written feedback: The perspectives and practices of an English language teacher educator in Argentina

Abstract

This paper examines, with specific reference to English language teacher education in Argentina, the pedagogical intentions which underlie and inform the written feedback practices of an L2 writing teacher educator. The study is part of a larger exploratory-interpretive investigation which adopted a within-site, embedded, multiple-case design, and used data obtained from document analysis and a range of interview types (background interviews, stimulated recall interviews, and reflective interviews). The findings demonstrate the influence of multiple pedagogical intentions on the teacher educator's written feedback practices, some with immediate relevance to L2 writing and others which extended beyond this field. This reinforces the conclusions drawn in previous studies that discuss the impact of pedagogical intentions which are broader than the specific content being taught. Additionally, however, the results expand on our current understanding of how pedagogical intentions operate at different levels by illustrating how micro-level, discipline-specific technicalities are embedded within and signified by macro-level pedagogical intentions. The findings thus highlight the need to imbue feedback with educational principles that go beyond feedback itself, and have implications for L2 writing instruction and assessment, and L2 teacher education.