Abstract：This study applied meta-analysis to synthesize the empirical findings on the effectiveness of corrective feedback in Chinese EFL learning settings. A total of 34 empirical studies were meta-¬analyzed. The results revealed that the immediate and delayed effects of written corrective feed¬back were 0.586 and 1.494. The immediate and delayed effects of oral corrective feedback were 1.731 and 1.738. This indicated that corrective feedback had a significant effect in EFL teaching in China and the effect was maintained over time. With regard to written corrective feedback, the effects of peer feedback were significantly larger than those of teacher feedback; both direct feed¬back + indirect feedback and direct feedback were significantly more effective than indirect feed¬back; focused feedback showed larger effects than unfocused feedback; the effects of written feedback declined with the increase of the number of treatment sessions. With regard to oral cor¬rective feedback, the effects for secondary school and university learners were significant larger than for primary school learners; the studies that measured learners’ achievements through con¬strained construction responses showed significantly larger effects than mixed tests. The results have important implications for corrective feedback research and EFL teaching in China.
Key words: EFL teaching; corrective feedback; effectiveness; meta-analysis
