Writing Conferences for Delivering Corrective Feedback on First Language Negative Transfer Errors in English Writing

Abstract

This study examines the effectiveness of writing conferences as a supplementary instructional feedback approach for addressing first language (L1) negative transfer errors in English writing. Drawing on theoretical frameworks from second language acquisition and writing pedagogy, the study focuses on three categories of L1 transfer errors: semantic, syntactic, and capitalization. The study argues that written corrective feedback alone is insufficient to help students understand and self-correct systematic errors, positioning oral, face-to-face conferencing as a necessary complement. Using a mixed-methods design, the study investigates how writing conferences conducted by a shared-L1 instructor improve writing accuracy and support sustained metalinguistic awareness across new writing tasks. Participants were 40 female first-year Saudi undergraduates at a public university in Saudi Arabia who were learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) and whose first language was Arabic. Their writing was tracked across three writing tasks over one semester, using a convergent parallel design. An experimental group (n = 20) received written corrective feedback followed by individual writing conferences, whereas a control group (n = 20) received written corrective feedback only. Results showed statistically significant and sustained reductions in all three error categories for the experimental group across tasks of increasing unfamiliarity. Thematic analysis of interviews revealed three themes: enhanced metalinguistic understanding, reduced writing anxiety, and explicit L1 transfer awareness. These findings suggest that shared-L1 conferencing promotes qualitatively different learning from written feedback alone, and offers a pedagogically applicable model for L1-informed writing instruction in EFL contexts.