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Secondary students’ L2 writing motivation and engagement: the impact of teachers’ instructional approaches and feedback practices

  • Shulin Yu

    Dr. Shulin Yu is an Associate Professor at Faculty of Education, University of Macau, Macau SAR, China. His research interests include second language writing and second language writing teacher education. His publications have appeared in Journal of Second Language Writing, Assessing Writing, Language Teaching Research, Applied Linguistics Review, Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, Language Teaching, and TESOL Quarterly.

    , Nan Zhou

    Dr. Nan Zhou is an Associate Professor at Faculty of Education, University of Macau, Macau SAR, China. His research interests include quantitative research methods and youth studies in education. His publications have appeared in international journals such as Assessing Writing, Language Teaching Research, and others.

    and Lianjiang Jiang

    Dr. Lianjiang Jiang is an Assistant Professor at Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong. His research interests include second language writing, digital multimodal composing, and new literacy studies. His publications have appeared in Language Teaching Research, System, ELT Journal, Journal of Second Language Writing, Journal of Language, Identity, and Education, Computer Assisted Language Learning and TESOL Quarterly.

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Published/Copyright: March 1, 2024

Abstract

Although there has been a great deal of research on L2 writing in higher education over the past few decades, limited attention has been given to secondary students’ writing motivation and engagement in L2 writing contexts. The present study aims to examine the association between writing instructional approaches and student writing motivation and engagement in the Chinese EFL context, and investigate the mediating role of writing feedback in this relationship. 2,169 students from 35 secondary schools in mainland China participated in this study. Results showed that product-oriented teaching approach related positively to the three indicators of maladaptive motivation (i.e., anxiety, failure avoidance, and uncertain control) and process-oriented teaching approach related positively to the two indicators of adaptive engagement (i.e., task management, persistence). While genre-oriented teaching approach related positively to adaptive motivation and engagement, and related negatively to maladaptive motivation and engagement, cooperative multimedia writing teaching approach related negatively to adaptive motivation and one factor of adaptive engagement (i.e., task management), and related positively to two factors of maladaptive motivation (i.e., anxiety, failure avoidance) and maladaptive engagement. This study also identified the mediating role of four feedback practices (i.e., learning-oriented feedback, expressive feedback, computer-mediated feedback, and peer and self feedback) in the associations between writing instructional approaches and student writing motivation and engagement. This study provides insights into our understanding of the complex relationship among teachers’ instruction, classroom feedback practices, and student writing motivation and engagement in L2 school contexts.


Corresponding author: Lianjiang Jiang, Faculty of Education, Room656, Meng Wah Complex, University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong, China, E-mail:

About the authors

Shulin Yu

Dr. Shulin Yu is an Associate Professor at Faculty of Education, University of Macau, Macau SAR, China. His research interests include second language writing and second language writing teacher education. His publications have appeared in Journal of Second Language Writing, Assessing Writing, Language Teaching Research, Applied Linguistics Review, Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, Language Teaching, and TESOL Quarterly.

Nan Zhou

Dr. Nan Zhou is an Associate Professor at Faculty of Education, University of Macau, Macau SAR, China. His research interests include quantitative research methods and youth studies in education. His publications have appeared in international journals such as Assessing Writing, Language Teaching Research, and others.

Lianjiang Jiang

Dr. Lianjiang Jiang is an Assistant Professor at Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong. His research interests include second language writing, digital multimodal composing, and new literacy studies. His publications have appeared in Language Teaching Research, System, ELT Journal, Journal of Second Language Writing, Journal of Language, Identity, and Education, Computer Assisted Language Learning and TESOL Quarterly.

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Received: 2022-12-15
Accepted: 2024-01-29
Published Online: 2024-03-01
Published in Print: 2025-01-29

© 2024 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

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