Iranian students' academic writing development through engagement with instructor feedback

This study investigates the improvement of Iranian undergraduate students’ academic writing skills through drafting and responding to instructor corrective feedback over a semester. Focusing on two students in an English academic writing module in the Department of English Studies over a five-month term, this research analyzes six writing assignments and the progress demonstrated through iterative drafting. A qualitative approach was used to explore the students’ revisions, examining areas of improvement as well as persisting challenges in response to the feedback. To increase the credibility of findings, the study also quantifies key revision patterns and error types to support the qualitative analysis. Findings reveal that while both students improved, the stronger writer displayed a more consistent development across drafts, whereas the weaker writer showed more fluctuated improvement throughout the course. The study underscores the role of structured feedback in enhancing academic writing skills and highlights factors, such as student engagement with feedback, that may influence writing progress. Although the sample is limited to two students, the paper discusses the implications for academic writing instruction across varied EAP contexts. These results suggest that targeted feedback, combined with iterative practice, can effectively support the academic writing development of English learners in higher education.