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Language Teacher Autonomy and Written Feedback: The Case of a Hong Kong Elementary English Teacher

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Innovation in Learning-Oriented Language Assessment

Part of the book series: New Language Learning and Teaching Environments ((NLLTE))

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Abstract

Writing teachers often develop their feedback literacy through reflecting on in-service observations. Thus, language teacher autonomy (LTA) plays an important role in developing L2 writing teachers’ feedback literacy. Nevertheless, there is a paucity of research on written feedback exploring the influence of LTA on L2 writing teachers’ feedback practices, especially in elementary school contexts. To address the aforesaid gap, this chapter reports a case study of an experienced elementary English teacher in Hong Kong teaching a Grade 4 writing class. Teacher interviews and individual student interviews were conducted to offer perceptual insights into the role played by LTA in affecting the teacher’s written feedback practice. Findings show that self-directed actions and development exerted a direct and positive impact on the teacher’s decision to implement innovative written feedback practice. Contextual constraints were resolved through teacher mediation. Implications related to elementary school feedback practices and language teacher education are discussed.

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Acknowledgement

A research brief of this study was published in TESOL Journal (Chong, 2020). The research brief does not report any raw data and only teacher interview data were referred to. Moreover, the analytical lenses used to interpret the findings in the two pieces are different. While language teacher autonomy is used as the conceptual framework in this chapter, an ecological perspective to language teaching and learning was used to analyse data in the research brief.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Moray House School of Education and Sport, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK

    Sin Wang Chong

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  1. Sin Wang Chong
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Correspondence to Sin Wang Chong .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Moray House School of Education and Sport, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK

    Sin Wang Chong

  2. King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi, Bangkok, Thailand

    Hayo Reinders

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Chong, S.W. (2023). Language Teacher Autonomy and Written Feedback: The Case of a Hong Kong Elementary English Teacher. In: Chong, S.W., Reinders, H. (eds) Innovation in Learning-Oriented Language Assessment. New Language Learning and Teaching Environments. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-18950-0_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-18950-0_8

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-031-18949-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-031-18950-0

  • eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)

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