ABSTRACT
As discussed in chapter 1, approaches to teaching composition (whether to native speaker [NS] or ESL writers) have changed
dramatically over the past quarter century. Despite all these changes, however, one element has remained constant: Both teachers and students feel that teacher feedback on student writ ing is a critical, nonnegotiable aspect of writing instruction. In most instances, teacher response represents the single largest in vestment of teacher time and energy, much more than time spent preparing for or conducting classroom sessions. Teacher feed back also provides the opportunity for instruction to be tailored to the needs of individual students through face-to-face dialogue in teacher-student writing conferences and through the draftresponse-revision cycle, during which teachers assist students through their written commentary at various points.
