Improving accuracy in the EFL writing class: Empirical studies into the effects of comprehensive feedback conditions

This doctoral dissertation examines the full potential of comprehensive corrective feedback (CF), an approach to L2 error correction which is understood as feedback on a large array of errors (Ellis, Sheen, Murakami, & Takashima, 2008) and which is common in certain English as a foreign language (EFL) writing environments. However, its practice has been heavily criticized over the years for overloading L2 learners' attentional capacity, short-circuiting their abilities to process corrections, and impinging upon their affective response to feedback (e.g., Bitchener & Knoch, 2009b; Ellis et al., 2008; Sheen, Wright, & Moldawa, 2009; Truscott, 1996, 2001).

Against this background, the main goal of this investigation is to look into the full potential of a feedback practice that treats diverse errors simultaneously. Specifically, the three experimental studies that are included in this dissertation aim at analyzing such an approach to L2 written errors by examining its effect on learners’ grammatical and non-grammatical accuracy. Additionally, the studies further look into the feedback effect by taking into consideration learner variables as well as by exploring differing feedback strategies.