Typological Description of Written Formative Feedback on Student Writing in an EFL Context

This study is a typological description of written formative feedback in an EFL context in Iran. Twenty M.A. students of TEFL participated in the study. They were required to summarize a scholarly article in each session on which the instructor would provide written corrective feedback (CF). Written formative comments were extracted, coded, and categorized into various types, such as asking for and giving information interrogatively or as a statement, making a request interrogatively, imperatively or as a statement, making positive comments or exclamation, and also making statements or comments on grammar and mechanics. Written formative comments were also analyzed with regard to the use of hedges and text-specific comments. Furthermore, we introduce a new category into the feedback types: hidden or covert feedback. Results are expected to raise the awareness of writing practitioners regarding their own practice in an EFL context.