Dear Zulfi, I'll start this to see if it creates an Australian conversation for you. I would say many of us here use spoken feedback as well as written commentary in one to one writing conferences. For me, it would mostly be doing one or more of three things. Often I will commence a f2f by asking the student to outline his/her overall document plan, often I will ask a student to explain orally a particular paragraph and the point that is being made (as I cannot understand the written version) and often as part of the paraphrasing process, I will ask them to orally give me the writer's idea. Of course there is also spoken interaction as part of the process of clarifying any written commentary. Regards, Fiona Fiona Henderson Lecturer Language and Learning Portfolio Victoria University Australia ph 61 3 9919 4972 http://vuoffshoresotlresearch.wikispaces.com/ http://tls.vu.edu.au/altc/studentresources.cfm ________________________________ From: European Association for the Teaching of Academic Writing - discussions [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Zulfiqar Ahmed Qureshi Sent: Sunday, 7 February 2010 12:44 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Writing conferences as a method of feedback on academic writing Dear colleagues, I am currently investigating the use of spoken feedback with international students in one to one writing conferences on their academic essay drafts (on a foundation/pre-UG course) and wish to ask the following of you all: 1) How many of you use such conferences with your EFL sts to discuss essay writing drafts? Is it a common feature of feedback methods employed by UK/European universities on such courses (in addition to the default 'written commentary')? 2) Does anyone know of any studies conducted at UK/European universities on this area as most are US based. Many thanks for any help/responses you may be able to offer. Zulfi Mr Zulfi Qureshi Senior Lecturer in English Language Course Leader for International Foundation Programme Tel: +44 (0) 1772 89 3677 E-mail: [log in to unmask] This email, including any attachment, is intended solely for the use of the intended recipient. It is confidential and may contain personal information or be subject to legal professional privilege. If you are not the intended recipient any use, disclosure, reproduction or storage of it is unauthorised. If you have received this email in error, please advise the sender via return email and delete it from your system immediately. Victoria University does not warrant that this email is free from viruses or defects and accepts no liability for any damage caused by such viruses or defects.