Speaker
Description
Writing proficiency is a major determinant of students’ success in tertiary education, and Written Corrective Feedback (WCF) is therefore employed to enhance it. Despite being well-researched, studies in this area are primarily quantitative and focus on isolated types of feedback and immediate effects on lower-order grammatical features (e.g., accuracy). This results in limited findings on other subtypes of linguistic competency, like vocabulary, or on the long-term effects of WCF. Current literature also lacks sufficient comprehensive reviews comparing the effects of various correction strategies on the same targeted feature, thereby unable to provide a broader understanding. Furthermore, individual variables affecting feedback are relatively under-researched (Li & Vuono, 2019), despite their impactful influence. Therefore, this integrative review, grounded in the Socio-cognitive model, bridges these gaps by synthesising 21 primary sources and presenting them under generalisable themes.
Findings reaffirm the superior effectiveness of direct feedback in enhancing grammatical accuracy. Meanwhile, metalinguistic correction is optimal for developing sustainable procedural knowledge of grammar and vocabulary. Individual cognitive factors (e.g., language aptitude) influence how effective feedback is, yet the impact increases when other linguistic and contextual factors are considered. Overall, this review offers practitioners guidance to strategically match feedback types with targeted linguistic features. It also highlights a research-informed list of individual, linguistic and contextual factors to consider. This actionable resource would ensure teachers can customise implementation and avoid the one-size-fits-all approach to correction. The research implications promote equitable education through differentiating instruction to meet diverse learning styles and developing implicit knowledge that facilitates lifelong learning.
Biography
Trang Le is a TKT-certified English teacher with eight years of experience. She has taught various age groups from very young learners to professional adults. During her four years at VUS – a major English centre- she was awarded “Teacher of Distinction” four times and was trusted to organise professional development workshops for her colleagues. After achieving IELTS Academic 8.0 in 2023, Trang specialised in test preparation and helped more than twenty students achieve their target IELTS score. The students’ achievements have granted them access to world-class education in global institutions, enhancing their career prospects.
Determined to enhance teaching quality, she pursued and earned a Master’s degree in Applied Linguistics from Curtin University in 2025. This degree develops her in-depth academic expertise while keeping her updated on contemporary trends in ELT practices. Her research interest involves second language acquisition, with a focus on proficiency development. She is committed to conducting practical and research-informed academic work, helping Vietnamese students gain access to quality education and global opportunities.
