Training Korean EFL Teachers to Respond to Student Writing

Korean Journal of English Language and Linguistics, 113, 701723. The purpose of the present study is to investigate the effects of teacher feedback training on the type of the written feedback Korean EFL teachers give on student writing. A feedback training program was designed for inservice and preservice Korean EFL teachers based on the training sequence of Approach, Response, and Followup suggested in Ferris and Hedgcock (2005) and Ferris (2007). The study analyzed the strategies employed in providing error correction and the types of teacher commentary given before and after training by 20 Korean secondary EFL teachers. The study also investigated the effects of training on the teachers selfefficacy in providing written feedback on student writing. The results indicate that before the training Korean EFL teachers viewed their role mainly as providing error correction. The changes in posttraining feedback suggest that the training program helped teachers become more aware of the different roles of teacher feedback. Additionally, an increase in teachers confidence in providing feedback was found posttraining.

Training Korean EFL Teachers to Respond to Student Writing Sukyung Chin (Ewha Womans University) Chin, Sukyung 2011 Training Korean EFL teachers to respond to student writing Korean Journal of English Language and Linguistics, 11-3, 701-723 The purpose of the present study is to investigate the effects of teacher feedback training on the type of the written feedback Korean EFL teachers give on student writing A feedback training program was designed for in-service and pre-service Korean EFL teachers based on the training sequence of "Approach, Response, and Follow-up" suggested in Ferris and Hedgcock (2005) and Ferris (2007) The study analyzed the strategies employed in providing error correction and the types of teacher commentary given before and after training by 20 Korean secondary EFL teachers The study also investigated the effects of training on the teachers' self-efficacy in providing written feedback on student writing The results indicate that before the training Korean EFL teachers viewed their role mainly as providing error correction The changes in post-training feedback suggest that the training program helped teachers become more aware of the different roles of teacher feedback Additionally, an increase in teachers' confidence in providing feedback was found post-training Key Words: writing, teacher feedback, teacher education Introduction The process approach has brought to attention the importance of teacher feedback to guide and support students through the writing process (Hyland & Hyland, 2006) Teacher feedback fills a number of roles in helping students improve their writing Hyland (2003) states that teacher feedback is essential in developing ESL/EFL learners' writing ability by providing "a 702 Sukyung Chin sense of audience and sensitize them to the need of readers, but it offers an additional layer of scaffolding to extend writing skills, promote accuracy and clear ideas, and develop an understanding of written genre" (p.207) Early ESL studies in teacher feedback have criticised that teacher feedback provided little help in improving students' writing ability They argued that teacher feedback is vague and can lead to misunderstanding and frustration for the students (Leki, 1990; Truscott, 1996; Zamel, 1985) These arguments have mostly been discredited due to the changes in teacher feedback and teachers' awareness (Ferris, 2003; Hyland & Hyland, 2006) Evidence of positive influence of teacher feedback on student writing can be found in a number of studies (Ashwell, 2000; Bitchener, 2008; Fathman & Whalley 1990; Ferris, 1997, 2006; Ferris, Pezone, Tade, & Tinti, 1997) Unfortunately, studies that have investigated teacher feedback practice in EFL writing classrooms have found evidence of earlier feedback practices focusing heavily on surface level errors with little or no expectation of students' revision (Kim, 2003; Lee, 2008, 2009, 2011; Montgomery & Baker, 2007) They also found a mismatch between provided guidelines for giving feedback and the actual feedback EFL teacher give on students’ writing Interview and questionnaire results reveal that this may be due to nonnative English teachers’ lack of experience in receiving and giving feedback, lack of confidence in their own ability in writing, and lack of training in providing feedback on students’ writing (Kim, 2003; Lee, 2008, 2011) Studies that have investigated teachers' feedback practice in EFL classrooms stress the importance of teacher training for EFL writing teachers in order to change such feedback practices A few books on teacher feedback have suggested training programs for ESL/EFL writing teachers (Ferris, 2003, 2007; Goldstein, 2005); however, so far no study has been reported to have investigated the effect of such training Training Korean EFL Teachers to Respond to Student Writing 703 on teachers’ feedback practices Thus, the purpose of the present study is to exam whether the feedback training influences the type of the written feedback Korean EFL teachers give on student writing It will further investigate the effects of training on the teachers' self-efficacy in providing written feedback on student writing The research questions for this study include: (1) How does the teacher feedback training affect the frequency and types of feedback L2 writing teachers provide on student writing? (2) How does the teacher feedback training affect the L2 writing teachers’ self-efficacy for providing written feedback? Literature Review 2.1 Teacher Feedback Studies in teacher feedback in L2 writing have examined the effects of different types of feedback (Ashwell, 2000; Bitchener, 2008; Fathman & Whalley, 1990; Ferris, 2006; Ferris et al., 1997; Hyland & Hyland, 2001; Lalande, 1982; Robb, Ross, and Shortreed, 1986; Ryoo, 2006) and its effect on students' revision and use These studies can be further divided into research in error correction which focuses on students' writing accuracy and studies in the characteristics of teacher commentary Error correction Previous studies investigating the effect of teacher feedback on developing students’ accuracy in writing have compared the effects of different strategies used in providing error corrections (Chandler, 2003; Ferris, 2006; Lalande, 1982; Ryoo, 2006) Direct feedback refers to teachers providing the correct form to students’ error This can include crossing out words, phrases; 704 Sukyung Chin inserting words or morphemes; or writing the correct form in the margin or near the error Indirect feedback is using different techniques such as highlighting, underlining, circling, or use of codes to indicate the error without providing the correct form and requires the students to correct the error Those advocating indirect feedback claim that because indirect error correction pushes the students to engage in problem solving it may be more beneficial in developing students' writing accuracy (Ferris, 2003, 2006; Lalande, 1982) However, the same studies stress the importance of considering the students' proficiency level and the error type when giving error correction especially when giving indirect correction to students with lower-level of language proficiency A few studies in the EFL context have found little or no difference between direct and indirect error correction on improving students’ accuracy in writing (Robb et al., 1986; Ryoo, 2006) The question of whether teachers should provide direct or indirect error correction is inconclusive and researchers recommend teachers to use both depending on the type of error and the students’ proficiency level (Ferris, 1997, 2003, 2006; Hyland, 2003) Teacher commentary Teacher commentary are teachers' response to all aspect of the written text including accuracy, content, or organization It is the teacher responding as a reader on what was successful and how it could be improved rather than evaluating the students’ work (Harmer, 2004; Hyland, 2003) Studies in teacher commentary have investigated different characteristics of teachers’ comments and how it affects students’ revision In a detailed analysis study on the effects of teacher commentary, Ferris (1997) reports that making requests and comments on grammar/mechanics were mostly likely to lead to substantive positive change in students’ revision While most researchers suggest teachers to provide feedback on all areas of writing (Ferris, 2003; Ferris & Hedgcock, 705 Training Korean EFL Teachers to Respond to Student Writing 2005; Hyland, 2003; Zamel, 1985), studies in EFL context have found that teachers tend to focus more on grammar or vocabulary Studies also recommend that teachers should give clear text-specific comments and include praise and suggestions when giving criticism (Goldstein, 2004, 2005; Ferris, 2003; Ferris & Hedgcock, 2005; Hyland, 2003) In Ferris’ (1997) study, the researcher found that text-specific comments led to more positive substantive changes than generic comments Goldstein (2004) also argues that text-specific comments can show the writer that the reader is engaged in what is written and can also indicate exactly where the reader has a problem with the text 2.2 Teacher Feedback Practices in EFL Classes Though the studies in teacher feedback have found and recommend certain types of feedback to be more beneficial for students, studies that have investigated nonnative writing teachers’ feedback practice in EFL writing classrooms all indicate a discrepancy between what is recommended and the actual feedback given on student writing (Kim, 2003; Lee, 2008, 2009, 2011; Montgomery & Baker, 2007) Specifically, in EFL classes where many of the teachers themselves are nonnative English speakers and lack experience in writing and receiving feedback, writing teachers have reported to be having difficulty providing feedback for their students (Kim, 2003; Lee, 2008, 2009, 2011) These studies stress the importance of teacher training that can provide a chance for teachers to share their beliefs and experience regarding teacher feedback and more importantly to learn and practice different ways in providing feedback on student writing Currently, no study has been reported to have investigated the effect of teacher feedback training on teachers' feedback practice The present study proposes a training program for EFL writing teachers on how to provide effective feedback on student 706 Sukyung Chin writing The study further investigates the effect of the training on the EFL teachers’ feedback practice and their self-efficacy in providing written feedback Methodology 3.1 Participants The participants of the study were 20 in-service Korean EFL secondary school teachers taking a 4-month English teachers training program at a university in Gyeonggi-do, Korea Most participants were in their 30-40s with one participant in her 20’s and one in her 50’s Most of the participants have teaching experience between 6-15 years, with eight participants having more than 15 years of teaching experience in Korean public schools The majority of the participants (90%) have participated in a teacher training program previous to the present program and half of the participants have participated in an overseas English program or teacher training program The teacher feedback training was part of a mandatory course "How to Teach Reading and Writing," included in the 4-month English teachers training program This course covered current issues, new methods and techniques in teaching reading and writing The class met once or twice a week for a ninety-minute class The course was a 2-month course of 12 classes The feedback training sessions were conducted for two classes over a two-week period 3.2 Teacher Feedback Training Program The teacher feedback training program used in the study was developed by adapting and modifying Ferris and Hedgcock (2005) and Ferris’ (2007) "Approach, Response, and Follow-up" training sequence Following Ferris and Hedgcock’s (2005) guideline in constructing effective teacher written feedback, three stages have been designed for the training program: approach Training Korean EFL Teachers to Respond to Student Writing 707 (knowing what to look for and prioritizing), response (providing the commentary), and follow-up (helping students maximize feedback and holding them accountable for considering it) The program content for each stage is presented in Figure The training was conducted in two sessions over a two week period Approach In the first stage, the participants were introduced to issues in teacher feedback, sharing their experience in providing and receiving teacher feedback, and discussed the purpose of teacher feedback Further they shared their thought on what they as nonnative English writing teachers can provide for their students FIGURE Teacher Feedback Training Program Procedure Approach - Discussion Experience with teacher feedback NNS English writing teachers Role and effect of teacher feedback - Principles for providing written feedback Response - Different types of teacher feedback on student’s writing Error correction Teacher commentary - Group/pair activity Providing feedback on student writing - Discussion How to provide more effective feedback Follow-up - Discussion Helping students incorporate teachers’ feedback in their revision (From Ferris & Hedgcock, 2005, p.190) First, the teachers participated in a discussion sharing previous 708 Sukyung Chin experiences in receiving feedback as EFL students They reflected on their good and bad experiences with written feedbacks they have received as a language learner and which feedback they have found to be helpful Next, they shared their experiences giving feedback to student writing and discuss what they found most difficult and shared their own questions in providing feedback Previous research have found that the successful writing teachers were those who found their own way to contribute as a nonnative English writing teacher (Kim, 2003) The question of what nonnative teachers can provide in helping students become better writers was discussed and examples of some of the feedback activities other teachers have implemented in their writing classes were shared In the second part of the "approach stage," the guiding principles of written teacher feedback in Ferris and Hedgcock (2005) was presented and used as a frame for discussion Response In the "response" stage, the EFL writing teachers were presented with techniques and strategies they can employ to give teacher feedback Power point, handouts, and course books were used to show examples of teacher feedback In the first part of this stage, the teachers were presented with different types of techniques in giving feedback The participants read materials and discuss the differences between error correction and teacher commentary Next, techniques in providing error correction such as coding and minimal marking were shown and activities to help students become more self-reliant in correcting their errors were suggested Other forms in providing teacher feedback such as audio taped feedback, electronic comments (email, word-process programs), response sheet, rubric, and checklist were also viewed For teacher commentary, participants looked at examples of end comments and marginal comments, and discuss the importance of providing praise and Training Korean EFL Teachers to Respond to Student Writing 709 constructive criticism Lastly, they looked at examples of teacher feedback and discuss which ones they found more helpful for the students and why The sample feedback examples have been retrieved from Ferris (2003, 2007), Ferris and Hedgcock (2005), Harmer (2004), and Hyland (2003) They varied in length, type (end comments, marginal comments), and different functions (praise, criticism, suggestions, and combinations) In the second part of the "response" stage, participants worked in pairs and apply what they have learned in giving feedback on a sample essay written by a Korean university student using the guidance worksheet designed for this study The steps in responding to student's text in the guidance sheet was adapted from Ferris (2007) Follow-up In the "follow-up" stage, the teachers reviewed and shared the feedback they have given during the feedback activity with the class This was followed by a discussion on how to help students use teacher feedback in their own revision Ideas and tips suggested in course books (Ferris, 2003; Ferris & Hedgcock, 2005; Harmer, 2004) were presented 3.3 Materials Student writing sample A sample student essay was used to collect teacher feedback before and after the training The sample text was written by a Korean EFL student in a college English course The given task was: “Do you agree or disagree with the following statement You must include ideas to support your opinion Television is the opium of the masses." Questionnaire In order to investigate the participants’ confidence in providing 710 Sukyung Chin feedback and their belief in teacher feedback a questionnaire was developed The participants were asked to score between (strongly disagree) to (strongly agree) Questions for self-efficacy was adapted and modified based on the guiding principles of written commentary suggested in Ferris and Hedgcock (2005) and Hyland (2003) 3.4 Data Collection Procedure Two types of data were collected in this study: the EFL writing teacher participants’ pre- and post-training written feedback, and the teachers’ questionnaire responses before and after the feedback training program The research procedure is presented in Figure One week before the feedback training, the participants were paired and were asked to read and give feedback on the sample student text The feedbacks given on the sample essay were collected as pre-training data FIGURE Research Procedure Pre-questionnaire ↓ (Pre-training) Feedback given on sample student writing ↓ Teacher feedback training sessions ↓ (Post-training) Feedback given on sample student writing ↓ Post-questionnaire Two teacher feedback training sessions were held over two weeks and in the last session participants were given the same sample student text given before the training and was asked to give feedback with their partner as homework The feedbacks Training Korean EFL Teachers to Respond to Student Writing 711 were collected the following week as post-training data With 20 participants in pairs, data from 10 groups were collected Each group submitted pre- and post-training feedback on the same sample essay and a total of 20 feedback samples were analyzed for the study Questionnaire on participants' personal back ground, self-efficacy as a writer and in giving feedback was given at the beginning of the course Post-questionnaire was given at the end of the course, two weeks after the second training session Questionnaire responses from all 20 participants were collected 3.5 Data Analysis In order to investigate the effect of teacher response training on teachers’ feedback practice, feedback given on a sample student writing before and after the training program by the participants were collected and analyzed by feedback types The categories used for analysis are shown in Figure Error corrections were coded by the strategy the teacher employed to provide error correction The categories include direct correction, indirect correction by indicating location of error, indicating type of error, and indicating location and type (Chandler, 2003; Ferris, 2003) The categories used to analyze the teacher commentary were developed based on the framework of Ferris (1997), Ferris et al (1997), Hyland and Hyland (2001) and course books in teaching ESL/EFL writing (Ferris & Hedgcock, 2005; Harmer, 2004; Hyland, 2003) and was adjusted by coding the teachers’ feedback on the sample student text For teacher commentary, feedback points were identified and analyzed Feedback points were recognized "as single written interventions that focused on a particular aspect of the text" (Hyland & Hyland, 2001) In some cases two or three sentences were counted as one feedback point, and in others one sentence included more than one feedback point 712 Sukyung Chin FIGURE Categories Used for Analysis of Teacher Feedback A Error correction Error correction strategies Direct correction Indicating location Indicating type & location B Teacher commentary Aim of teacher commentary Suggestion Criticism Praise Focus of teacher commentary Content Organization Grammar Word choice Text-specific comment Generic Text-specific Teacher commentaries were analyzed using the teacher feedback categories in Figure by the researcher and another English teacher The categories were read together and one sample feedback was analyzed together The coding was done independently When disagreement was found it was resolved by discussion Results and Discussion 4.1 Frequency and Types of Teacher Feedback In total, 436 feedback points were recognized and analyzed Before the training 270 feedback points were identified and 92.2% of the feedback was error correction Only 21 teacher commentary feedback points were found and these were given by three groups 713 Training Korean EFL Teachers to Respond to Student Writing This result may indicate that before the training, most Korean secondary English teachers viewed teacher feedback as giving error correction This finding is in line with previous studies in EFL context where teachers focus heavily on grammatical errors (Kim, 2003; Lee, 2008, 2009, 2011) This feedback practice is also similar to those found in the early ESL teacher feedback studies (Zamel, 1985) While error correction is important, especially for EFL writers with limited language proficiency, studies have found that such practices can misrepresent the importance of content communication and organization in writing to students (Ferris, 2006; Montgomery & Baker, 2007; Zamel, 1985) Additionally, studies in teacher feedback and student revision have found that how the teachers respond influences how the students view and use teacher feedback in their revision (Montgomery & Baker, 2007; Hyland & Hyland, 2006) Currently, most researchers agree that teachers need to respond to all aspects of student writing While lower-level students may need extensive error correction, most agree that teachers need to respond considering the progress of the students' writing ability rather than trying to "fix" a single piece of writing (Ashwell, 2000; Ferris, 2003; Ferris & Hedgcock, 2005; Hyland, 2003; Zamel, 1985) In this view, the teachers need to provide feedback on content and organization as well as the students' language use After the training session, 166 feedback points were identified There was a sharp decrease in the number of error corrections and an increase of teacher commentary More teacher commentary feedback points (64.8%) were found than error corrections (35.2%) However, a large percentage (47%) of the teacher commentary was focused on language, so the decrease in error correction does not suggest that the teachers' focus on the students' language use lessened after training 714 Sukyung Chin Error Correction Error corrections were categorized by the type of strategy the teachers employed: direct, indicating location, indicating error type, indicating location and type The results in Table show that before training, the majority (67%) of errors were directly corrected After the training, the percentage of direct and indirect error correction display the opposite pattern The majority of errors were marked indirectly to indicate only the location Table Frequency of Teacher Error Correction Strategy Pre- and Post-Training Direct Correction Indicate Location Indicate Type Indicate Location and Type Total Pre-Training n % 168 67% 75 30% 0% 249 3% Post-Training n % 20 29% 38 56% 0% 10 15% 68 While indirect error corrections were used before and after training, a difference was found on how the teachers employed this strategy The following example shows error correction given on the student's text before training by group Such extensive indirect error correction may be confusing to the students It is not clear whether the marking was due to inappropriate word choice, grammatical error, or simply marked while the teacher was reading First, television watching happened conversation cutting and problem of tie feeling formation among family The people cannot conversation during diner that the family get together because of television watching The tie feeling of family disappears little by little because of conversation cutting Whereas in post-training feedback, end comments connected to 715 Training Korean EFL Teachers to Respond to Student Writing the indirect error corrections given in the text were found In terms of word choice, be careful when translating Korean phrases directly into English Check the underlined (green) phrases Some sentences were missing verbs or used the wrong tense Check the wiggly lines It could be argued that indirect corrections with such language focused commentaries can lessen students misunderstanding of teachers' indirect correction and help students use the feedback in their revision as well as help students become more aware of these errors in their future writing Teacher commentary Teacher commentaries were analyzed by the teachers’ aim in providing the comments and the focus of the comments The number of feedback points and percentage of each category by teacher feedback acts can be found in Table Table Frequency of Teacher Commentary Pre- and Post-Training by Aim Pre-Training n % 14% 18 86% 0% 21 Suggestion Criticism Praise Total While there were only a small Post-Training n % 38 39% 32 33% 28 28% 98 number of teacher commentaries before training, the results shows that the majority of the comments were to point out problems in the student's text No feedback point was found to praise the student’s work Researchers state that one of the functions of teacher feedback is to encourage student writers (Ferris & Hedgcock, 2005; Harmer, 716 Sukyung Chin 2004; Hyland, 2003) Moreover, the teacher commentaries that pointed out the student's problems included very little information on what the teacher found as problematic and how the student could improve it in his revision Ferris (2007) argues that such discouraging generic comments are not helpful to the students and are not likely to be used in their revision Post-training, the results show a increase in suggestions and praise Studies in teacher feedback and student revision have found that criticism are most effective when paired with clear suggestions (Goldstein, 2004, 2005; Hyland & Hyland, 2001) Ferris (1997) also found that making requests or suggestions to be the most effective comment types that lead to positive change in students’ revision The following end-comment example shows how the teachers followed-up their criticism with suggestions to help students revise Your supporting paragraphs have their points, but are not directly related to the thesis statement Your supporting ideas are about the general problems which TV might cause So use your topic sentence as an example and create a more connecting topic sentence Table shows the frequency and percentage of teacher commentary feedback points by focus Table Frequency of Teacher Commentary Pre- and Post-Training by Focus Content Organization Grammar Vocabulary Total Pre-Training n % 19% 14% 10 48% 19% 21 Post-Training n % 35 36% 17 17% 30 31% 16 16% 98 Before the training almost half (48%) of the comments were on Training Korean EFL Teachers to Respond to Student Writing 717 grammar with very few comments on content, organization and word choice However, post-training, content was the most commented category followed by grammar Organization and word choice were the least commented area Similar to the aim of teacher commentary, after the feedback training sessions participants gave similar amount of comments across the categories This may indicate that the teachers were more aware of the importance of providing feedback on all areas of the student writing as suggested by researchers (Ashwell, 2000; Ferris, 2003; Ferris & Hedgcock, 2005; Hyland, 2003) Table shows the frequency and percentage of text-specific and generic comments At first glance is seems as if the percentage of text-specific comment had decreased after the training However, this is due to the small number of comments given before training and that most were marginal comments These were considered text-specific due to the marking and the location of the comment Table Frequency of Text-specific Teacher Commentary Pre- and Post-Training Pre-Training n % 10 48% 11 52% 21 Generic Text-specific Total Post-Training n % 52 53% 46 47% 98 As can be seen in excerpt 4, the majority of the pre-training comments were short, generic, and simply problems in the text It gives a stimulus to many children and teenagers that still the judgment power was insufficient Unclear indicated the 718 Sukyung Chin Post-training comments were more detailed in their explanation with a number of comments that praised or showed response as a reader, see excerpt First, television watching happens conversation cutting and problem of tie feeling formation among family What problem? You can mention the problem directly rather than saying 'problem.' Researchers recommend teachers to give text-specific comments (Ferris, 2003; Goldstein, 2004; Zamel, 1985) These comments show the writer that the reader is invested in what he/she wrote and can give a clear indication of what the reader had a problem in understanding Studies have also found text-specific comments to have a higher probability of being used in the students' revision (Ferris, 1997; Goldstein, 2004) The results illustrate an increase in the number of text-specific end and marginal comments after the feedback training sessions 4.2 EFL Teachers’ Self-efficacy in Providing Written Feedback The teachers' self-efficacy in providing feedback was examined through the questionnaire administerd before and after the training, see Table Relatively lower scores can be seen in questions regarding the participants’ confidence as a writer and confidence and knowledge in providing feedback This result is similar to other questionnaire and interview studies on Korean EFL teachers’ perception and perceived problems in teaching a writing class (Kim, 2003; Lee, 2007) In these studies, teachers have reported that their lack of confidence in English writing and lack of methods in providing feedback as a problem in teaching EFL writing classes Training Korean EFL Teachers to Respond to Student Writing 719 Table Mean Score of Questionnaire for Teachers' Self-efficacy in Providing Feedback I am confident in giving student feedback on their writing I know the difference between responding and correcting student writing I know different ways to give feedback besides handwriting on the paper I know different ways to give feedback using other tools (checklist, rubric) I know the difference between endnotes and marginal notes I know the difference between first draft feedback and last draft feedback PreTraining PostTraining 2.29 2.75 3.04 4.13 2.92 3.88 2.88 4.00 2.54 4.00 2.96 3.96 Though not a significant increase, the questions regarding participants’ self-efficacy in providing feedback show an increase in all the questions after the training This result may indicate that even a short-term teacher feedback training programs can help increase teachers’ confidence in giving feedback to student writing Conclusion The present study investigated the effect of teacher feedback training on teachers’ feedback on student writing and the teachers' self-efficacy in providing feedback The results of the feedback analysis show that before the training Korean EFL teachers mainly focused on giving error corrections (92.2%) with only a small number of teacher commentaries This may indicate that the teachers viewed their role as "editor" of student writing The main strategy used to give error corrections were direct correction regardless of error type However, more indirect error corrections were given after the training Additionally, end 720 Sukyung Chin comments explaining the indirect corrections given in the text were also found post-training This type of feedback may be able to lessen the chance of miscommunications and provide the students with a more detailed language focused feedback The comments found pre-training were mainly used to point out the student's problem in grammar and mechanics After the training sessions, the teachers gave similar amounts of criticism, praise, and suggestions The criticisms was paired with praises or suggestions in many of the end comments This may suggest that the training helped the teachers view the role of teacher feedback not only to point out problems in the student writing, but also to encourage the students and help them revise their work to communicate their ideas more clearly to the readers Teacher commentaries were also given on all four categories with more number of feedback points on content and language Teachers provided more text-specific comments after the training Furthermore, the survey results show a small increase in teachers’ confidence in giving feedback The results of this study show that there is a strong need for feedback training for Korean EFL teachers A few suggestions can be made in implementing a teacher feedback training program in Korea First, discussions on the role of writing teachers and teacher feedback in the writing process is needed Secondly, research findings in teacher feedback can be shared with teachers This can help teachers understand current feedback practices and see how different teacher feedback affect students' revision and perception Most importantly, in consideration to EFL teachers lack of experience in providing teacher feedback, examples of teacher feedback should shared and discussed with the teachers Also, hands-on activities of giving feedback on actual Korean student writing needs to be included in the program The present study is not without its shortcomings First, due Training Korean EFL Teachers to Respond to Student Writing 721 to the small number of participants, the results cannot represent all Korean EFL teachers Teachers with different experience, background, and language proficiency will have different needs in their training (Ferris, 2003; Montgomery & Baker, 2007) Secondly, while feedback to be the present similar to found what the changes previous in studies teacher have recommended in teacher feedback, the study analysed feedback given on one sample student essay A number of current research have argued that students of different proficiency levels and different learning contexts will require different types of teacher feedback and the most effective feedbacks are those that are tailored to individual student needs (Ferris, 2003; Goldstein, 2004; Hyland & Hyland, 2006) Further studies on helping teacher be flexible in responding to different proficiency levels and different student needs should be investigated Despite these limitations, the present study demonstrates that even a short-term feedback training program can help teachers become more aware of the students' use and misunderstanding of their feedback Moreover, it can help EFL teachers widen their view of teacher feedback from only responding to errors to encouraging and supporting students' progress in developing their writing ability in all areas References Ashwell, T (2000) Patterns of teacher response to student writing in a multi-draft composition classroom: Is content feedback by form feedback the best method? 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Second language writing: Research insight for the classroom (pp 57-68) New York: Cambridge University Press Montgomery, J L., & Baker, W (2007) Teacher-written feedback: Student perceptions, teacher self-assessment, and actual teacher performance Journal of Second Language Writing, 16, 82-99 Robb, T., Ross, S., & Shortreed, I (1986) Salience of feedback on error and its effect on EFL writing quality TESOL Quarterly, 20, 83-93 Ryoo, Y (2006) The effect of indirect and direct error feedback on Korean college students’ accuracy improvement in writing Foreign Languages Education, 13, 241-262 Truscott, J (1996) The case against grammar correction in L2 writing classes Language Learning, 46, 327-369 Zamel, V (1985) Responding to student writing TESOL Quarterly, 19, 79-101 Sukyung Chin Dept of English Education Ewha Womans University 11-1 Daehyun-dong, Seodaemun-ku Seoul, 120-750, Korea Phone: 017-263-7395 Email: debyncafe@ewha.ac.kr Received: 2011.07.31 Revised: 2011.09.05 Accepted: 2011.09.15 ... reported to have investigated the effect of such training Training Korean EFL Teachers to Respond to Student Writing 703 on teachers? ?? feedback practices Thus, the purpose of the present study is to. .. Korean student writing needs to be included in the program The present study is not without its shortcomings First, due Training Korean EFL Teachers to Respond to Student Writing 721 to the small... given by three groups 713 Training Korean EFL Teachers to Respond to Student Writing This result may indicate that before the training, most Korean secondary English teachers viewed teacher feedback