ABSTRACT
Researchers and teacher educators who focus on the language aspect of second language (L2) writing tend to place heavy emphasis on the problem of error in student writing and whether/how best to treat it pedagogically (see, e.g., Ferris, 2011). The issue of corrective feedback (CF) in L2 writing has been highly controversial over its history and has been extensively researched over the past 20 years in particular. This body of recent work has yielded valuable new insights on the “big question” (Ferris, 2004, p. 50)—whether or not teachers should provide CF to student writers—and especially about specific ways to approach CF (for reviews, see van Beuningen, de Jong, & Kuiken, 2012; Bitchener, 2008; Bitchener & Ferris, 2012; Bitchener & Storch, 2016; Ferris, 2010).
