Student feedback literacy in L2 disciplinary writing: insights from international graduate students at a UK university

Abstract

Although student feedback literacy has drawn increasing attention in higher education, how it is adapted in second language (L2) disciplinary writing discourse is still under-researched. Situated within an MA TESOL programme at a UK university, this paper reports on exploratory qualitative research into the components of student feedback literacy in L2 disciplinary writing. Data were collected through retrospective interviews with five Chinese students, stimulated recall sessions, and their essay drafts with course tutors’ feedback. The qualitative data analysis was initially informed by two broad-stroke dimensions of student feedback literacy, i.e. students’ cognitive and socio-affective readiness to engage with feedback. Within each dimension, specific categories that characterised the student feedback literacy in L2 disciplinary writing were identified, such as subject/disciplinary knowledge, linguistic and pragmatic competence, students’ proactivity and attitudes towards using feedback. These components not only suggest the situated and multi-faceted nature of student feedback literacy, but highlight the necessity for course tutors to: (a) be fully aware of the challenges for international students in engaging with discipline-bounded feedback, and (b) adjust instruction and feedback practice accordingly, to develop these students’ feedback literacy and foster their success in higher education.