How to support at-risk writers: Differential effects of formative feedback on argumentative writing and motivation

Abstract Formative feedback fosters writing and student motivation, but differential effects on writers with varying achievement levels are under-researched. It remains unclear to what extent time-efficient methods such as rubric and exemplar feedback support less-proficient writers. Our study addresses this gap by comparing the effects of different formative feedback methods on deep-level features in writing, self-efficacy, enjoyment, and feedback perceptions in two groups of secondary school EFL students: students designated at-risk of writing failure ( n = 101) and more proficient developing writers ( n = 101). We conducted a randomized controlled intervention study with four conditions: EG1 (rubric + exemplar feedback), EG2 (in-text comments), EG3 (rubric + exemplar feedback and in-text comments), and CG1 (learning unit without additional feedback). Findings showed that rubric + exemplar feedback had a differential effect, particularly benefitting at-risk writers. In both achievement-level groups, in-text comments (EG2) led to comparable learning progress as in the control group without additional feedback (CG1). Importantly, more feedback (EG3) only had additional benefits for developing writers, while at-risk writers in EG3 made similar progress to at-risk writers in the control condition. At-risk writers had lower self-efficacy and writing enjoyment, with no significant changes over time, while developing writers experienced slight losses in enjoyment. Both at-risk and developing EFL writers had positive perceptions of all feedback types, though the motivational impact of the feedback was rated lower than its quality. In conclusion, although we did not observe motivational changes, rubric + exemplar feedback seems helpful for at-risk writers and is positively received by students.