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UBC Theses and Dissertations

Exploring revision as a self-regulated process in EFL writing Li, Wentao

Abstract

Building on the socio-cognitive theoretical perspective of self-regulated learning (Zimmerman, 1995, 2002, 2013), the current exploratory qualitative study investigates how a group of college-level English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students in China apply socio-cognitive sources to self-regulate their revision behaviours as they receive and self-reflect on peer feedback and plan for their second draft writing. The whole learning process is mediated by Information and Communication Technology (ICT). Data analyses were based on students’ initial and revised writing samples, revision worksheets, and semi-structured interviews. Four significant findings were generated: 1) Peer feedback covered both content and language issues but was more concerned with content issues; 2) Students decided to incorporate most of the peer feedback into their revision, whereas ignored those when they disagreed with their peers; 3) When peer comments were too general and confusing, or contradictory among multiple reviewers, students still made subsequent revisions through seeking clarification and advice from peers, collecting information from the internet, and checking e-dictionary, Grammarly, and academic references; 4) Students benefited from the self-regulated revision process across cognitive, affective, social, and knowledge-level through receiving peer feedback and drafting a revision plan. Findings suggest that receiving peer feedback and drafting a revision plan by reflecting on peer feedback forms useful socio-cognitive sources that could shape and trigger students’ self-regulated revision behaviours. The study yields instructional guidance for writing teachers to incorporate ICT-mediated peer feedback and revision planning tasks into their classroom teaching to help students achieve self-regulated revision and become masters of their EFL writing and revision practices.

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Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International