Unraveling University EFL Teachers’ Feedback Beliefs in Teaching English Argumentative Writing

Abstract

Teachers’ beliefs about feedback can affect both the way they provide feedback and its effectiveness in improving students’ writing proficiency. However, research remains scant on belief–practice relationships. This study attempted to fill the gap by investigating such relationships with a sample of 112 Chinese university EFL teachers in teaching argumentative writing. Data were collected through a writing feedback beliefs and practices questionnaire, an argumentative writing teaching beliefs questionnaire, and semi-structured interviews. The participants were selected using convenience sampling from six universities in Northern China. Quantitative data were analyzed through confirmatory factor analysis, multiple regression, and repeated measures ANOVA to examine the characteristics of these teachers’ writing feedback beliefs and the relationships between the beliefs and relevant practices. Qualitative data from the interviews were analyzed thematically to gain deeper insights into the belief–practice relationships. Results indicated that most teachers believed their feedback was crucial for improving students' argumentative writing, particularly regarding communicative purposes, discourse organization, linguistic expressions, argument construction, and rhetorical techniques. However, a discrepancy was noted between teachers' feedback beliefs and their practices, especially concerning linguistic expressions. These findings highlight the need for targeted support to better align teachers' feedback beliefs with their practices for more effective teaching of EFL writing.