Uneven Revision Contribution and Grammar Learning in Synchronous Computer‐Mediated Paired Writing

ABSTRACT This paper reports on two classroom‐based studies that investigated the relationship between the number of revisions learners made in response to teachers’ corrective feedback during paired writing tasks and changes in their knowledge about the English referential articles. In Study 1, 38 English‐as‐a‐Second‐Language (ESL) college students at an American university participated. They worked on two computer‐mediated animation description tasks in pairs while receiving the teacher's corrective feedback that addressed their incorrect uses of the referential articles. One group received the correct form with a revision‐prompting message, whereas the other group received an indication of the error occurrence with a revision‐prompting message. Dyad members’ revisions were identified by the use of screen capturing. Their knowledge of the referential articles was assessed one week prior to the paired writing tasks (pretest), a few days after (posttest), and two weeks after (delayed posttest), via animation description and sentence rewriting tests. Results suggested that after controlling for their language aptitude, individuals’ revision contribution was related to changes in their performance on the animation description test. Study 2 recruited another cohort of 38 ESL learners at the same institution and partially supported the findings in Study 1.