Writing Feedback in the English Language Teaching Classroom: The Interplay of Context, Teachers’ Beliefs and Practices

Research has shown that teachers’ decisions about feedback on second language (L2) writing are mediated by their beliefs about teaching and learning and the contexts in which they work. Teaching and learning contexts vary widely in student profiles, curricula, program policies and institutional culture, and each of these has a significant impact on teacher practices and how these practices are mediated by teachers’ beliefs. This study adopted a case study approach to investigate the beliefs and practices of 15 teachers teaching in one of three program contexts in Canada: an English for academic preparation program for international students; an undergraduate English language studies program; and an English as a L2 settlement program for immigrants. Data was collected through in-depth teacher interviews; analyses of teacher feedback on students’ writing; and stimulated recalls by teachers about students’ papers with teacher feedback. We examined teachers’ educational and professional background and experiences and their beliefs about writing feedback, and documented features of the contexts in which they worked to understand how factors that characterize their individual teaching contexts interact with their beliefs to shape their feedback practices. Findings confirmed that the context in which teachers work has a significant impact on teacher feedback practice. How individual teachers perceived specific features of the context emerged as a strong mediator of the relationship between their beliefs and practice. The study calls for researchers to rethink the mediating role of context in the research agenda; program developers and policy makers need to design curricula that integrate teacher input and support investment; and language teacher educators are called on to consider how best to prepare teachers to analyze and understand their own engagement with the features of the contexts in which they work.