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This study examines a possible link between computer
generated feedback and changes in Taiwan EFL business
writing students' writing strategies. By using computer
software that measured details of students' writing,
including: time spent on a document, amount of editing
on a document, specific errors made in the document,
and the amount of text copied from resource material,
the author was able to perform numerous detailed analyses.
Students were randomly assigned to test and control groups
with control students receiving a placebo computer feedback
and the test group receiving real computer generated
feedback on their errors. While the majority of feedback
was teacher based and exactly the same for the two groups,
different writing strategies were evident in the two groups
by the third assignment.
Conclusions point to the important impact computer
generated feedback appears to have on students, including
the encouragement of a more process oriented approach in
their writing. Such a finding has the potential of allowing
Teachers to incorporate more process writing in their
classrooms where they once though impossible, due to the
large EFL class sizes so common in Asia.
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