Exploring factors contributing to feedback-seeking strategies in L2 writing: An extended cost-value framework

Abstract

L2 writing research has primarily focused on motivation to write as an antecedent of feedback-seeking behavior (FSB). To date, few studies have considered L2 learners’ perceived costs and values of the feedback per se. To address this research gap, this study applies an extended cost-value framework to explore the predictive effects of L2 learners’ perceptions of the costs and values associated with teacher feedback on their strategies to seek teacher feedback (i.e., feedback monitoring and inquiry). Data were collected from 294 Chinese tertiary English learners using structured questionnaires and processed using partial least squares structural equation modeling. It was found that interest and utility values positively predicted both feedback monitoring and feedback inquiry. Effort cost negatively predicted feedback monitoring, whereas self-presentation cost negatively predicted feedback inquiry. The study also showed that interest value mediated the relationships between utility value and feedback strategies. The results of the study lend support to the postulations of the cost-value framework, establishing feedback perceptions as a proximal antecedent of feedback-seeking strategies in L2 writing. Practical implications on how to enhance feedback practices are discussed.