Published January 29, 2025 | Version v1
Book chapter Open

Writing as Language Learning

Authors/Creators

  • 1. ROR icon Universidad de Murcia

Contributors

Researcher:

  • 1. ROR icon Universidad de Murcia

Description

Writing is increasingly recognized as a privileged site for second language (L2) learning due to its potential to foster deep linguistic processing. Unlike oral communication, writing offers permanence and time for reflection, enabling learners to notice gaps in their interlanguage and engage in metalinguistic awareness. Within this context, corrective feedback (CF) plays a crucial role in promoting language development. Empirical research demonstrates that feedback enhances accuracy in immediate revisions and can contribute to longer-term acquisition when learners actively process it. The effectiveness of CF depends on variables such as explicitness, timing, and learner characteristics (e.g., proficiency, motivation). Importantly, the learning impact of CF hinges less on its form than on how learners interact with it: deeper processing, involving noticing, comparison, and meta-reflection is essential for transforming feedback into durable gains. Recent research also explores digital and multimodal feedback, including computer-mediated and automated systems, highlighting new opportunities for individualized and collaborative engagement. Ultimately, corrective feedback, when integrated into writing tasks that encourage problem-solving and reflection, can significantly advance L2 development by fostering awareness, explicit knowledge consolidation, and gradual automatization of linguistic forms.

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Additional details

Dates

Available
2025
Chapter in an international scientific encyclopedia

References

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