Improving student feedback literacy in academic writing: An evidence-based framework

Student feedback literacy, which concerns learners’ understanding and evaluation of feedback information and of self-regulated learning, has recently drawn increasing scholarly attention. Although much discussion is directed to the theoretical complexity of feedback literacy in higher education, academic writing on this subject has remained unfocused, and the issues related to feedback literacy are less explored. We still know little about how to foster student literacy in feedback. This study draws on previous theoretical and empirical discussions of feedback and feedback literacy in higher education and academic writing, and proposes an evidence-based framework for developing student feedback literacy in the context of academic writing. This framework features dynamic teacher- and peer-scaffolding across the technical, social-interactive and individual levels, and showcases the essential knowledge bases needed for students to understand and use feedback on academic writing. The study contributes to research on writing assessment and feedback, and provides a pragmatic alternative to traditional classroom feedback practices, which can better facilitate the training of feedback-literate academic writers.