ABSTRACT
As process-oriented composition teaching approaches, with their emphases on multiple drafts, feedback, and revision, have permeated U.S. college classes, teacher commentary has become a much more vital and significant aspect of writing instruction. Early first-language (L1) and second-language (L2) process advocates (e.g., Hillocks, 1986; Krashen, 1984; Zamel, 1982, 1985) argued that teacher feedback is much more effective at intermediate steps of the writing process than at the end of it (Leki, 1990). Although the process approach has also led to an increased focus on other forms of response, such as teacherstudent conferences (Carnicelli, 1980) and peer feedback (Ferris & Hedgcock, 1998; Mittan, 1989), neither type of feedback is identical to written teacher commentary and neither, for a variety of reasons, can or should replace it. Thus, because written teacher commentary is likely to continue as a crucial part of composition instruction, it is important that we carefully examine the nature and effectiveness of such responses.
