Examining Second Language (L2) Learners’ Engagement with AWE-Teacher Integrated Feedback in a Technology-Empowered Context

While studies on teacher written feedback and automated writing evaluation (AWE) feedback have proliferated in recent decades, little attention has been paid to how AWE-teacher integrated feedback would influence students’ engagement and their writing performance in second language (L2) writing. Against this backdrop, a quasi-experimental design was adopted to address this important gap. In our study, an intervention was implemented in two classes of English major sophomores in China, with a treatment group receiving AWE-teacher integrated feedback and a comparison group receiving teacher feedback. Data were collected from multiple sources over a 13-week semester to explore the Chinese EFL learners’ engagement with the integrated feedback and their writing performance. Results showed that the students in the treatment group engaged with feedback more profoundly in behavior and cognition than those in the comparison group while both groups demonstrated similar affective engagement. Furthermore, compared with the comparison group, the treatment group improved their writing performance in content, organization, vocabulary, and language use significantly. Important implications are also discussed.