Interactions with Feedback: A Case Study of Protocol Analysis

This paper reports on the crucial role that written feedback has in the development of students’ writing skills. using the think-aloud method, i investigated how a student writer interacted with the feedback comments when she revised her paper. as the think-aloud method offers direct access to the thought processes of an individual, the participant, thinking aloud while responding to feedback is engaged in a process that is essentially social. this contributes to her cognitive changes via interactions with the feedback giver through written commentaries. the findings highlight two aspects of the writer’s interactions with feedback. first, feedback is viewed as a social activity, and secondly, as a form of dialogic activity that promotes interaction between the writer and the reader (feedback giver). the implication is that interactions with written feedback enabled the writer to externalize her thoughts as she internalized the meaning of feedback by means of thinking aloud that leads to the development of her writing skills.