This comparative study explored teacher feedback on college student writing from the teacher's perspective by investigating the written feedback practices among teachers of Korean as a foreign language (KFL) and teachers of English as a second language (ESL) in North America. Using an online questionnaire, this study inquired into the written feedback practices of 153 college KFL/ESL instructors across North America. A major difference between the two groups was found in terms of the scope of issues chosen for feedback: KFL teachers in relation to ESL teachers were more concerned with language-related local issues over writing-related global issues. The dissimilarity was consistent even with multiple-draft approach usage: ESL teachers changed their focus of concern from global issues on early drafts to local issues on later drafts, while KFL teachers focused on local issues across all drafts. The difference between KFL and ESL teachers' feedback might be explained by a variety of factors including the number and types of feedback-related training, cultural-developmental factors, student proficiency, and learner needs.
The abstract above is courtesy of Penn State University Press via JSTOR.