The Effectiveness of Formative Feedback from Teachers to Students in L2 English Academic Writing Courses  

Abstract: Abstract This study investigates how formative feedback provided from teachers to students in academic writing can enhance students’ writing skills, and what strategies teachers can use to motivate students and provide effective and timely feedback at upper secondary education in English as a Second Language (ESL) context. Many researchers have claimed that giving formative feedback is essential for the improvement of students’ writing skills. Several studies have also shown that English as an L2 students tend to appreciate effective and qualitative feedback. For this study, data were collected through searches from educational databases to examine this area within an ESL context and provide an overview of how formative feedback given from teachers can improve L2 students’ writing skills and what strategies teachers should use to give effective feedback. The overall results indicate that giving formative feedback in writing plays an important role in the improvement of the students’ writing skills and learning. The findings show that there are several strategies that should be used for the formative feedback to be effective and beneficial.  Key terms: formative feedback, writing skills, effective feedback, timely feedback.