Self-monitoring is a technique where students write marginal annotations in their drafts about problems or questions. This allows students to direct the feedback process and signal issues to their teacher. The teacher then responds in writing to help students improve their writing, develop strategies to solve problems independently, and continue composing while enabling language support. Self-monitoring gives students more control over feedback and increases autonomy in their writing learning.

2. What is self-monitoring?
 Self-monitoring is defined as “a means
of increasing the amount of dialogue
over the text for those whose
institutional circumstances do not permit
individual editorial discussions on
student drafts” (Charles, 1990, p. 288).

3. What is self-monitoring?
 In writing their annotations, students
direct the feedback process to their
needs, establishing a collaborative
relationship in which they work with
teacher support either to improve written
language at the point of use or to
develop heuristics to solve composing
problems independently
(Cresswell, 2000, p. 235)

4. What is self-monitoring?
 “In permitting students to signal [a]
language problem together with their
intention, self-monitoring can remove
the worry of the block, and free students
to continue composing, while enabling
the teacher to offer help with language
to define the idea appropriately for the
intended reader” (Cresswell, 2000, p.
236).

5. What is self-monitoring?
 “The student self-monitoring technique
increases autonomy in the learning of
writing by giving learners control over
the initiation of feedback. In practical
terms, this means that students write
marginal annotations about problems in
their evolving compositions, to which the
teacher responds (also in writing).”
(Cresswell, 2000, p. 235)