More than a decade after Truscott (1996) claimed that written corrective feedback (CF) should be
avoided, the debate on written CF is still ongoing. Although studies have been conducted and their results mostly
support the advocates of written CF, issues with their methodology left practitioners in doubt. This article
reviews extensive literature and the debate on written CF. Studies over the last decade have shown that, under
certain circumstances, written CF could be beneficial for learners. Therefore, teachers should consider many
factors before deciding to provide written CF to their students. The literature also indicates that further studies
about the effect of written CF on syntactic complexity of learners’ writing are still needed. Likewise, similar
research in different context is also necessary.
Keywords: written corrective feedback; error correction; writing; English as a foreign languag
