Written Feedback, Student Writing, and Institutional Policies: Implications for Novice Teacher Development

This study analyzes the methods that teachers employ in written feedback to student writing and how the policies of the program and the teachers' embodied histories influence the strategies used. Data were gathered from 2 novice teachers as they taught their first graduate-level ESL writing course and consist of the teachers' feedback in addition to interviews and personal narratives. Participants were educated in the same MA TESOL program and taught the same course; however, striking similarities and differences in their written feedback indicate identity and personal history are as important as program policies in determining the methods and content of the feedback. Implications for novice teacher development are that reflective teaching should include reflections on both beliefs and classroom practices to identify misalignments between the two.