A qualitative synthesis of research into the use of exemplars in the English for Academic Purposes context to develop student feedback literacy

In recent years, feedback has been characterised by a student-centred paradigm with the learner playing a more active role. Arguably, this requires student feedback literacy (SFL), referring to a learner’s attitude towards and capability of understanding and using feedback to improve their work. Exemplar use has also been increasing and is viewed as a potential enabling activity for the enhancement of SFL. Research in these areas is flourishing within higher education but generally without demarcation between English for academic purposes (EAP) and content-focused courses. EAP classrooms could be considered unique domains, subject to specific learning outcomes and language or socio-cultural considerations. This systematic qualitative synthesis of 13 studies in an EAP context seeks to explore how exemplars are conceived and implemented, along with resultant affordances, limitations, and factors contributing to their usefulness. Findings indicate that as with higher education in general, exemplars are implemented with the aim of developing SFL. However, in the EAP context, a second application aimed at learners noticing interesting or useful features for the purposes of increasing linguistic resources or improving language or task-specific outcomes is identified. Exemplar use is also found to be impacted by language limitations and other factors which influence levels of engagement.