Investigating novice EFL writing teachers’ beliefs and practices concerning written corrective feedback across contexts: a case study from a complexity theory perspective

Abstract While previous research has identified misalignment of L2 teachers’ beliefs and practices on written corrective feedback (WCF), much remains to be known about whether and how writing teachers’ beliefs may vary across contexts and evolve over time, as well as the extent to which their beliefs are manifested in their practice. To address this issue, this study draws upon the perspective of complexity theory to explore the data collected in a case study of two novice Chinese EFL teachers’ changes in beliefs and practices about WCF across student-centred contexts and teacher-centred contexts. Data were collected from multiple resources, including interviews, drafts of students’ writing, and teacher on-script WCF. The data revealed a complex process of change in teachers’ beliefs about WCF that underwent distinct stages across contexts. Misalignments between teachers’ WCF beliefs and practices and possible reasons for these differences (e.g. teacher professional identity, affective factors, and individual student differences) are also discussed. This study deepens our understanding of writing teachers’ complex beliefs about feedback practices and sheds new light on feedback pedagogy in L2 writing classrooms.