Abstract

With the paradigm shift from a product-based to a process-based approach to ESL writing instruction came a necessary change in teachers' approaches to giving feedback on student compositions. One of the critical underpinnings of the process-based approach to ESL writing instruction is that focus on content and the organization of ideas should take precedence over a focus on more formal aspects of writing such as grammar and mechanics. Most of the studies over the last fifteen years have investigated student reactions to or preferences for various feedback techniques employed by ESL writing instructors, but have not systematically attempted to investigate which factors might be influencing the feedback preferences these students have. This study is an investigation with two main aims: (a) to determine what the feedback preferences of university-level ESL students are, and (b) to determine which selected factors have an influence on these preferences. To accomplish this, 185 ESL students at two Montreal universities were surveyed using two instruments. One instrument gathered information on students' feedback preferences and the other gathered data on personality traits. The results of the study indicated that students had a marked preference for form-focused feedback, that they preferred the use of symbols over error correction by the teacher, and that they were not convinced of the benefits of peer review. Factors such as age, gender, previous experience and personality were found to influence these preferences.