1. Introduction
As integral components of writing classrooms, writing assessment and feedback play a crucial role in informing and improving the teaching and learning of second language (L2) writing (Crusan, 2021Footnote *; Lee, 2017*). Despite abundant advice on the implementation of effective writing assessment and feedback practices (e.g., Ferris & Hedgcock, Reference Ferris and Hedgcock2023; Gadd & Parr, Reference Gadd and Parr2017), assessing and responding to writing remains a challenging endeavor marked by frustration and uncertainty for many L2 teachers (Ferris, 2014*; Yu & Lee, Reference Yu and Lee2024). Equally, students report dissatisfaction and a lack of competencies in utilizing assessment information and feedback to improve their writing (Yu, Reference Yu2024). To address this quandary, it is essential to examine the literacy required by both teachers and students for effective assessment and feedback practices. However, notwithstanding the growing focus on language assessment literacy (see Vogt et al., Reference Vogt, Bøhn and Tsagari2024, for a recent research timeline) and feedback literacy in general (see Nieminen & Carless, Reference Nieminen and Carless2023, for a critical review), there has been a lack of synthesis specifically focused on writing assessment literacy and feedback literacy in L2 writing.
1.1. Defining writing assessment literacy and feedback literacy
Writing assessment literacy and feedback literacy are interrelated yet distinct constructs, although they are frequently explored separately in the literature. Writing assessment literacy refers to individuals’ “knowledge, beliefs, and practices regarding writing assessment” (Crusan et al., 2016*, p. 53) and plays an essential role in L2 writing education. Without such literacy, teachers and students are left to make decisions about assessment with little theoretical knowledge and practical competency (Crusan, 2021*). While writing assessment duties encompass various aspects—such as designing assignments, developing scoring tools, and providing feedback on student writing—the first two aspects have received the majority of attention (Weigle, 2007*). This may be attributed to the inherent complexity of feedback, which itself necessitates specialized feedback literacy (Carless & Winstone, Reference Carless and Winstone2023; Lee et al., Reference Lee, Mak and Yu2026). Although feedback literacy is broadly situated within writing assessment literacy, it can be conceptualized as a distinct and independent construct in its own right (Lee, 2017*).
As a cutting-edge area bridging “assessment” and “feedback” (Sun et al., Reference Sun, Ding, Wang, Liu, Wang, Zhu and Liu2024), feedback literacy represents a new aspect of writing assessment, encompassing “competencies in feedback” (Lee, 2021*, p. 1049) that aim to optimize its benefits. With the increasing diversity of feedback sources (e.g., teachers, students, automated writing evaluations, and generative AI), as well as the prevalence of new feedback techniques such as multimodal feedback (Zhang, Reference Zhang2026), the concept of feedback literacy has expanded to include peer feedback literacy (e.g., Dong et al., 2023*), automated feedback literacy (e.g., Buckingham Shum et al., Reference Buckingham Shum, Lim, Boud, Bearman and Dawson2023), generative AI feedback literacy (e.g., Liu & Deris, 2025*; Zhan & Yan, 2025*), and multimodal feedback literacy (e.g., Jiang et al., 2024*). This evolution may transform the assessment process by broadening the focus from human-driven assessment and feedback to include technology- and AI-mediated classroom practices. Against this backdrop, writing assessment literacy and feedback literacy become increasingly essential, as they underpin the development of knowledge, foster meaningful visions, and enhance competencies in leveraging technology and AI for effective assessment and feedback practices.
This timeline integrates these two essential topics to illuminate the evolution of each strand and their interconnected insights. As will be illustrated in our timeline, each topic area exhibits distinct developmental trajectories while also sharing similarities, particularly in the transition from conceptual works to the proliferation of scales in both writing assessment literacy and feedback literacy, alongside a growing number of empirical studies employing diverse methodologies (quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-methods research). Moreover, the interaction between the two areas is evident, as feedback is an indispensable and integral component of writing assessment. Hence, an integrated view of the two concepts can more effectively chart their historical trajectory and influence in the realm of L2 writing.
1.2. Objectives and organization of this research timeline
The present research timeline provides a graphic presentation of key thoughts and research on writing assessment literacy and feedback literacy in L2 writing. By doing so, it aims to offer the reader an overview of significant works, highlight emerging trends, and track research developments in the field.
In this article, we outline the selection of studies included in this research timeline, highlight the trends of development in L2 writing assessment literacy and feedback literacy, describe the themes corresponding to the study categories, and conclude with a brief summary. A chronology of a representative sample of key studies is then presented along with our annotations.
2. Selection of studies
The timeline showcases a selection of 50 seminal works and primary studies over the past 25 years, comprising 45 journal articles, 3 monographs, 1 book chapter, and 1 doctoral dissertation. The key works included in this research timeline were selected through a comprehensive literature search. The initial step involved querying four academic databases commonly used in applied linguistics, namely, Web of Science, Scopus, Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts, and ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. Additionally, we performed a manual search of six publisher websites: Cambridge Core, De Gruyter, Oxford Academic, Sage, Springer, and Taylor & Francis. Various search terms and combinations were utilized, including assessment litera* OR assessment competenc* OR assessment abilit* OR feedback litera* OR feedback competenc* OR feedback abilit*, AND foreign language OR second language OR L2, AND writ*.
Of note, this research timeline does not aim to include all potentially relevant studies; instead, it focuses on selected works that contribute to significant shifts and developments in this domain. To achieve this, we included pioneering studies that have shaped subsequent conceptual frameworks or empirical research, as well as those that address critical calls from earlier studies. Additionally, we featured works that refine or expand existing frameworks and those that offer substantial empirical insights. To establish a more objective basis for our selections, we considered several additional criteria, including Google Scholar citation frequency as an indicator of a work’s impact on subsequent research, along with methodological rigor to ensure that the studies met high standards of research design and analysis, particularly those published in reputable indexed journals (e.g., those listed in the Social Sciences Citation Index or Scopus bibliographic indices). Moreover, we prioritized works that contribute to validated instruments or theoretical frameworks, as their influence is often evident in their citation patterns and their ability to guide future research.
While an initial comprehensive search yielded a substantial number of results, the researchers conducted a careful screening process and exchanged comments on the primary studies. This timeline highlights works that are not only pivotal in the field but also represent an ongoing dialogue across time, depicting a critical and panoramic view of how this research area has evolved.
3. Trends of development in L2 writing assessment literacy and feedback literacy
3.1. Conceptualizing writing assessment literacy and feedback literacy
Conceptualizations of writing assessment literacy originate from Weigle’s (2002*) monograph entitled Assessing Writing, published by Cambridge University Press.. Although the term writing assessment literacy was not explicitly used then, Weigle emphasized the importance for key stakeholders—including teachers, test developers, and parents—to possess knowledge and skills related to writing assessment. Building on this conceptualization, Crusan et al. (2016*) encapsulated writing assessment literacy as a broad construct that intertwines the knowledge, beliefs, and practices concerning the assessment of writing. The absence of such literacy can create significant barriers to the implementation of effective writing assessment practices.
Initially introduced into educational research by Sutton (Reference Sutton2012), feedback literacy encompasses the academic literacies necessary for students to comprehend, interpret, and engage with complex ideas. This construct was later applied to L2 writing research and expanded to represent both students’ and teachers’ capacities to optimize the benefits of feedback (Lee, 2021*), referred to as writing feedback literacy, which offers a novel approach to understanding feedback through an emphasis on participants’ feedback literacy. As a key building block within feedback practices, this innovative concept carries significant implications for empowering students and teachers in L2 writing education (Boggs & Manchón, 2023*). While a number of meta-analytic reviews have investigated the effectiveness of feedback in improving L2 writing accuracy (e.g., Brown et al., Reference Brown, Liu and Norouzian2023; Kang & Han, Reference Kang and Han2015), scant attention has been paid to the role of feedback literacy in L2 writing (Mao et al., Reference Mao, Lee and Li2024).
Overall, these conceptual works are invaluable for establishing a foundational framework for understanding writing assessment literacy and feedback literacy. They articulate key definitions and elucidate the roles of various stakeholders, thereby fostering a shared understanding within the field and offering useful implications for subsequent scale development and empirical research. In turn, later studies have contributed to the refinement of our understanding of these two key constructs and the diverse sub-literacies associated with them.
3.2. Scales and surveys for writing assessment literacy and feedback literacy
With advancements in understanding the conceptualizations of these two constructs, efforts have been made to develop and validate instruments for assessing teacher and student writing assessment literacy and feedback literacy. This progress is evident not only in the growing number of publications but also in the expanding range of sub-literacies within feedback literacy, including peer feedback literacy and generative AI feedback literacy.
For teachers, specific scales have been created to measure L2 writing teacher feedback literacy (Lee et al., 2023*) or writing assessment feedback literacy, encompassing the aggregate competencies of teacher language skills, assessment, writing instruction, and effective feedback provision (Wang et al., 2023*). For example, Lee et al. (2023*) developed a 34-item writing teacher feedback literacy scale that identified 3 key dimensions—Perceived Knowledge, Values, and Perceived Skills. The validation results demonstrate the psychometric reliability and validity of the scale, indicating that it can effectively measure L2 writing teachers’ self-reported feedback literacy. In their work, Wang et al. (2023*) uncovered four components in their newly designed scale that integrates writing assessment literacy and feedback literacy: assessment feedback competence, assessment feedback practices, knowledge of writing assessment feedback, and knowledge of effective techniques. As composite constructs comprising various elements, writing assessment literacy and feedback literacy demand that teachers possess knowledge, training, and expertise in assessment, feedback delivery, and writing instruction, along with the ability to provide effective feedback during writing assessment. Together, these instruments contribute insights into this important topic area and inform writing teacher education programs.
For students, various scales have been developed involving a broader range of participants and emphasizing different focal areas. Regarding writing assessment literacy, Xu et al. (2023*) developed and validated a scale aimed at university students across different language groups, focusing on Knowledge, Belief, Behavior, and Critique. In the realm of feedback literacy, instruments have been designed to examine how student writers approach, use, and evaluate feedback, as well as how they manage their emotions during this process—termed student writing feedback literacy by Yu et al. (2022*). Furthermore, conceptualizing peer feedback literacy as student writers’ capacities and attitudes in providing and receiving peer-written feedback, Dong et al.’s (2023*) peer feedback literacy scale addresses feedback-related knowledge and abilities, cooperative learning ability, appreciation of peer feedback, and willingness to participate in peer feedback activities. Collectively, these efforts enhance our understanding of the agentic role that students play in the feedback process.
Some studies have sought to determine the extent of assessment and feedback literacy among teachers and students. Utilizing a combination of quantitative survey data and qualitative responses (e.g., survey comments and interviews), previous research has highlighted significant gaps in teachers’ writing assessment literacy and feedback literacy, as evidenced by respondents’ insufficient knowledge to translate theory into practice (Lam, 2019*) as well as low confidence in their overall assessment abilities (Crusan et al., 2016*), particularly in relation to feedback (Lee & Mao, 2024*). Similarly, student responses indicate a lack of writing assessment literacy and feedback literacy, attributed to low writing motivation (Xu & Zheng, 2025*) and limited feedback experiences and training (Zhang et al., 2023*). Clearly, teachers and students need to strengthen their relevant literacies to maximize the learning potential of assessment and feedback in L2 writing.
3.3. Development of student/teacher writing assessment literacy and feedback literacy
Importantly, research has demonstrated that writing assessment literacy and feedback literacy can be cultivated and enhanced over time for both teachers and students. To promote teacher assessment and feedback literacy and achieve professional development, teachers can refine their assessment competencies by reflecting on the (in)consistencies between their assessment philosophies and practices (Britton, 2023*), embracing technological integration into classroom feedback practices (Wu et al., 2023*), or engaging in continuous professional development events such as professional development communities (Cui et al., 2023*). Collectively, these studies emphasize the need for both reflective practices and technological integration, as well as collaborative approaches, to effectively enhance teacher assessment and feedback literacy.
Heeding the call for improving student abilities to evaluate and use assessment feedback information (Yu & Liu, 2021*), researchers have placed growing emphasis on student assessment and feedback literacy development, contributing to a nuanced understanding of how various instructional contexts and assessment approaches (e.g., assessment for/as learning) enhance students’ engagement with feedback (Xu & Zheng, 2024*). These studies highlight the promising value of instructional activities and practices for developing student writing assessment literacy and feedback literacy. For instance, systematic integration of multiple feedback sources (i.e., teacher, peer, and automated feedback) has been shown to effectively improve students’ feedback literacy (Zhang & Mao, 2023*; Zhang et al., 2023*). Additionally, peer support and dialogues act as vital social scaffolding (Saeed & Alharbi, 2023*; Wu & Lei, 2023*), while translingual practices further enrich the feedback process (Sun et al., 2023*). Together, these findings indicate that students can be empowered to expand the knowledge, skills, and strategies that are essential for becoming effective student assessors.
Of note, mastery of writing assessment literacy and feedback literacy has become increasingly imperative in the current age of AI. In light of the technological, ethical, and pedagogical challenges posed by generative AI (Crosthwaite & Sun, Reference Crosthwaite and Sun2026), the development of these literacies can empower teachers to integrate AI responsibly into curricula and guide students’ efforts to balance and optimize human assessment and machine-generated feedback (Buckingham Shum et al., Reference Buckingham Shum, Lim, Boud, Bearman and Dawson2023; Lee & Mao, Reference Lee and Mao2025).
3.4. Factors affecting writing assessment literacy and feedback literacy
Recently, attention has turned to the exploration of the underlying mechanisms of writing assessment literacy and feedback literacy, highlighting a range of factors that shape this literacy. Some in-depth investigations of focal student writers’ feedback literacy through qualitative case studies (e.g., Han & Xu, 2019*; Li & Han, 2021*) have utilized multiple data sources, including writing samples, feedback, semi-structured interviews, and class documents. As shown in Han and Xu (2019*), individual variations existed in student feedback literacy, with some high-achieving and highly motivated participants becoming more feedback-literate than their underachieving and minimally motivated peers. Influencing factors include learner characteristics such as language ability, metacognition, beliefs, and motivation (Han & Xu, 2019*; Teng & Ma, 2024*), as well as contextual factors, such as discipline-specific L2 writing discourse (Li & Han, 2021*). Consequently, writing assessment literacy and feedback literacy are subject to both individual differences and contextual influences. Notably, most existing studies have concentrated on students and the individual factors at play, leaving a scarcity of research focused on L2 teachers and the influence of contextual forces in this process.
4. Themes
Relevant studies were organized into the following themes. Conceptual studies (A) provide theoretical foundations by defining and refining key constructs, clarifying their scope, and situating them within the field of L2 writing research. Research topics are distinguished between writing assessment literacy (B1) and feedback literacy (B2). Methodological contributions include scale development and validation (C1), where instruments are designed and tested for reliability, and surveys (C2), which map literacy levels across diverse stakeholder groups. Empirical investigations into the development of writing assessment/feedback literacy employ qualitative (D1), quantitative (D2), or mixed-methods (D3) designs to trace how teachers and students acquire, enact, and refine their writing assessment and feedback competencies. Complementing these are studies on influencing factors, which highlight the role of individual differences (E1) and instructional contexts (E2). Each study is further categorized by research orientation, differentiating investigations centered on teachers (F1) from those centered on students (F2). Together, these elements create a comprehensive overview of the diverse facets of representative studies in this area.
A. Conceptualization of writing assessment/feedback literacy
B. Research topic
B1. Writing assessment literacy
B2. Feedback literacy
C. Scale development and surveys
C1. Scale development and validation
C2. Surveys of stakeholders’ literacy
D. Studies on the development of writing assessment/feedback literacy
D1. Qualitative research design
D2. Quantitative research design
D3. Mixed-methods research design
E. Factors affecting writing assessment/feedback literacy
E1. Individual differences
E2. Instructional contexts
F. Research orientation
F1. Concerning teachers
F2. Concerning students
5. Concluding remarks
Writing assessment literacy and feedback literacy have emerged as a significant area of research in L2 studies. Existing conceptual, theoretical, and empirical work has enriched our understanding of the roles and competencies of both teachers and student writers in the writing assessment and feedback process. As will be illustrated in the timeline, conceptual and theoretical frameworks have increasingly diversified, evolving from initial definitions of assessment and feedback literacy to encompass additional components such as peer feedback literacy, multimodal feedback literacy, and praise feedback literacy. Empirically, the focus has shifted from solely examining teachers to including both teachers and students, thereby emphasizing the importance of student agency and shared responsibility between teachers and students in writing assessment and feedback practices. Furthermore, feedback literacy has emerged as a crucial element of writing assessment literacy, gaining significant attention in the field. This burgeoning area encompasses not only the concept itself but also its connections to writing performance, feedback-seeking behavior, and feedback engagement. Collectively, valuable insights can be drawn for stakeholders to revisit and refine their current assessment and feedback designs and practices.
This research timeline supports the future development of this topic by mapping the complex and multifaceted nature of assessment and feedback literacy. We anticipate that continued research will create areas of mutual concern and shared relevance among students, teachers, teacher educators, and researchers as they navigate the complexities of writing assessment literacy and feedback literacy in L2 writing.
Note: Authors’ names are shown in small capitals when the study referred to appears in this timeline.
Zhicheng Mao is a Research Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Education, University of Macau. His research interests include second language writing, second language acquisition, and language classroom assessment. His publications have appeared in Applied Linguistics, Assessing Writing, Innovation in Language Learning and Teaching, International Journal of Applied Linguistics, Journal of Second Language Writing, Language Teaching, RELC Journal, System, and TESOL Quarterly. Email address: zcmao@um.edu.mo.
Shulin Yu is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Education, University of Macau, Macau SAR, China. His research interests include second language writing and second language writing teacher education. His publications have appeared in Journal of Second Language Writing, Assessing Writing, Language Teaching Research, Language Teaching, and TESOL Quarterly. Email address: shulinyu@um.edu.mo.
Icy Lee is Professor of Education (TESOL & Language Education) at the National Institute of Education in Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. Her main research interests are second language writing and second language teacher education. She formerly served as Co-editor of the Journal of Second Language Writing and is currently Co-editor of the Disciplinary Dialogues section. In addition, she is Principal Associate Editor of The Asia-Pacific Education Researcher and Co-editor of the International Journal of Christianity & English Language Teaching. Email address: icy.lee@nie.edu.sg.
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