An exploration of asynchronous and synchronous feedback modes in EFL writing

In the English as a foreign language (EFL) writing context, most of the research studies on the feedback process are conducted in a face-to-face context and few research studies have been conducted to investigate what actually happens in online feedback conditions. Thus, this study aimed to compare 44 EFL university students’ experience of employing asynchronous peer feedback (APF) and synchronous corrective feedback (SCF) and whether the utilization of these two modes affected EFL students’ writing on the aspect of syntactic complexity. The major findings suggested that most participants accepted this e-learning revision approach and received satisfactory results via using APF and SCF modes. The feedback that occurred in APF was potentially more usable than that in SCF in writing more sentences. It is assumed that as students added more words, they increased their writing scores after using APF. Although learners generally accepted both online feedback modes, the interview results revealed some of the reasons for learners’ preference for the APF over the SCF mode. Finally, the implications of these findings for future research are discussed and presented.