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Article published In:
Revista Española de Lingüística Aplicada/Spanish Journal of Applied Linguistics
Vol. 35:2 (2022) ► pp.540–564

“We improved presenting voice in our writing”

The role of teacher feedback in revising personal statements

ORCID logo | Shandong University
ORCID logo | Shandong University
ORCID logo | Victoria University of Wellington

This study investigated the role of teacher feedback in presenting students’ voice and writing quality of personal statements (PSs). PSs are essays intended to grant writers’ admission into graduate programs. Twenty third-year undergraduate students majoring in English participated in this study. Three drafts were collected in an English as a foreign language (EFL) writing class, and teacher feedback was given on the first two drafts. Three participants were interviewed to share their thoughts about voice development and revisions. Drafts 1 and 3 were analyzed using an analytic voice rubric, a holistic rating, and an analytic rubric. It was found that students presented a unique voice in Draft 3 and improved their writing quality by using teacher feedback in classroom contexts. Overall voice was found to strongly correlate with writing quality. Findings of the study demonstrate the importance of teacher feedback in improving students’ abilities to articulate their voice and writing quality in EFL writing.

Keywords: teacher feedback, personal statement, voice development, writing quality, EFL writing
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Literature review
  • 3.Research questions
  • 4.Methodology
    • 4.1The general context of writing PSs
    • 4.2Participants
    • 4.3Procedures
    • 4.4Writing tasks
    • 4.5Measures
    • 4.6Research instruments
    • 4.7Data collection and data analysis
  • 5.Results
    • 5.1Results of RQ1
    • 5.2Results of RQ2
    • 5.3Results of RQ3
    • 5.4Survey-based results
      • 5.4.1The effects of teacher feedback on the development of voice in revising PSs
      • 5.4.2The effects of teacher feedback on writing quality
      • 5.4.3Students’ general perceptions and attitudes toward teacher feedback
  • 6.Discussion
  • 7.Conclusion and implications
  • Acknowledgements
  • References
Published online: 21 September 2022
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/resla.20023.wan
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