The influences of international master's students' feedback seeking behaviour on their feedback literacy and feedback contexts: An ecological perspective

Abstract

Previous research has found that L2 student writers use inquiry and monitoring to elicit feedback, but few studies have investigated the impact of feedback seeking behaviours (FSB) on student feedback literacy and their learning contexts. To address these issues, the current study drew on an ecological perspective to explore two international master's students' self-initiated FSB in the UK academic environment. Qualitative data analysis of interview transcripts revealed that both students proactively sought feedback, albeit from distinct sources (i.e., peer feedback vs. teacher feedback). As they chose to seek feedback from their preferred sources, they created greater learning opportunities, which in turn enhanced their dispositions to seek and use feedback, capabilities of eliciting, evaluating feedback and judging their own work, and knowledge about feedback and assessment. The process of seeking feedback also enabled them to construct connections with a wider range of feedback interactants, access more artefacts, and therefore cultivate a more supportive feedback ecology with richer affordances. The uncovered incremental but unbalanced development of student feedback literacy facilitated by FSB, as well as the changes of feedback contexts induced by FSB, provides new insights into the close relationship between FSB, student feedback literacy, and feedback ecology.