Among a growing body of research that examined the contradictory role of written corrective feedback (WCF) in development of L2 writing accuracy, this study investigated the possible impact of focused metalinguistic WCF on discourse markers (DMs) in writing performance of an intact group of 42 Iranian English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners over an eight-week period. In an authentic, situated, and personalized learning platform, giving and receiving WCF were made possible only through the mobile-mediated application of WhatsApp. Before participants wrote on selected elicitation topics, they had taken part in a 2004 version of Oxford Preliminary Test in order to be screened for their initial differences in writing performance. After receiving metalinguistic WCF on their scripts, participants were required to work on the coded feedback and try to eliminate the DM errors in their revised writing assignment. After collecting the scripts over an eight-week period, the content of written assignment was thematically analyzed using NVivo 21 Software for the additive, adversative, causal and temporal DMs, following Halliday and Hasan’s (Cohesion in English., 1976) typology. In a convergent mixed-methods design, the content analysis of the qualitative data showed a larger distribution of additive DM than adversative, causal, and temporal DMs in all participants’ written scripts. Exploring the possible impact of metalinguistic WCF on improving the DMs accuracy, analysis of the frequency count data with Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) multivariate Chi-square test reported the fluctuation and unsystematic patterns of distribution for four types of DMs with no sign of significant long-term improvement in DMs accuracy after receiving metalinguistic WCF. These findings implied further research on practicing alternative WCF strategies focused on variety of error types in actual and virtual L2 writing environments.

在越来越多的研究中，研究了书面纠正反馈（WCF）在提高L2写作准确性中的矛盾作用，该研究调查了聚焦元语言WCF对话语标记（DM）可能对完整组42人写作表现的影响。为期八周的伊朗英语作为外语（EFL）学习者。在一个真实，定位且个性化的学习平台中，只有通过移动介导的WhatsApp应用程序，才可以提供和接收WCF。在参与者就选定的启发性主题写文章之前，他们参加了2004年版的《牛津预备考试》，以筛查其写作表现的最初差异。在他们的脚本上收到了元语言WCF之后，要求参与者处理编码反馈，并尝试消除其修订的写作作业中的DM错误。在八周的时间里收集了剧本之后，按照Halliday和Hasan（英语，Cohesion，1976年）的方法，使用NVivo 21软件对书面作业的内容进行了主题分析，以分析加性，对抗性，因果关系和时态DM。在融合的混合方法设计中，定性数据的内容分析显示，在所有参与者的书面脚本中，加性DM的分布要比对抗性，因果和时间性DM更大。探索金属语言WCF对提高DM准确性的可能影响，使用社会科学统计软件包（SPSS）进行的多变量卡方检验分析频率计数数据，报告了四种类型的DM的波动和非系统性分布模式，在接受金属语言WCF后，DM的准确性没有长期的显着改善迹象。这些发现暗示着对在实际和虚拟L2写作环境中专注于各种错误类型的替代WCF策略的实践进行进一步的研究。