From correction to regulation: didactic gestures in text rewriting and learning to write

Abstract

This theoretical essay discusses the conditions under which the correction of students’ texts may become part of formative regulation and expand learners’ participation in text revision and rewriting. It asks how regulatory didactic gestures connect teacher correction, student reflection and rewriting in learning to write. The approach consists of a critical, contrastive reading of studies on didactic gestures, genre-based didactic sequences, formative assessment and feedback practices. Correction, revision and rewriting are distinguished, and the roles of diagnosis, explicit criteria and text-centered interaction are examined. The central argument is that correction and learner autonomy are not necessarily opposed: correction becomes formative insofar as the selected aspects are relevant, students can understand and discuss feedback, and their responses inform subsequent teaching decisions. The essay proposes an analytical matrix comprising three interconnected axes — identifying learning needs, mediating revision choices and examining progressive appropriation — each considered in terms of learning object and criterion, teacher action, student action and subsequent instructional decision. This matrix is a conceptual proposal rather than an empirically validated instrument. Learning must therefore be examined across successive versions and writing situations, rather than inferred solely from the number of changes in the final product.