New Approach to Chinese Writing: an Exploratory Study of Writing Performance on Social Q&A Online Community

Many studies have investigated how the online community has informed language acquisition and teaching. In the scholarship of Computer-Mediated Communication Theory (CMC), while most of the studies have emphasized second language English writing using the CMC framework, evidence is shown to support CMC in foreign language instruction. However, there is a lack of research on how feedback from native speakers of Chinese influences Chinese learners’ writing in a web environment. In response to the research gap, drawing on sociocultural and CMC, the current exploratory study probes the nature of feedback on Zhihu, the largest Chinese social question-and-answer website, and how feedback affects advanced Chinese learners’ writing performance. Eight American university students learning Chinese as second language participated by completing two writing tasks on Zhihu. After posting essays on the website, these participants read and responded to online feedback within two weeks, followed by a revision of their original posts. Tokens of feedback, revised language items and learners’ response to feedback were coded by the researcher. Findings reported feedback types from Zhihu users, exchanges between learners and feedback providers, and correlations between first and second drafts. Feedback on Zhihu is proven to be beneficial to advanced Chinese learners’ writing performance, and pedagogical implication is suggested for the inclusion of Zhihu in advanced Chinese curriculum