The past few decades have witnessed a remarkable surge of research interest in written corrective feedback (WCF), and while the field is robust, there is an increasing sense that many questions have already been addressed. Nevertheless, due to its pivotal role in the writing classroom, WCF remains one of the most vibrant and dynamic areas of scholarly investigation. In this presentation, I begin with a brief historical overview of WCF research, taking stock of its existing contributions and discussing its limitations. While a significant amount of WCF research is experimentally based, this approach tends to overlook the complexities of real-world classroom dynamics, hence, limiting the pedagogical relevance of the findings. To strengthen the nexus between research and practice, I argue for a greater emphasis on WCF studies situated in naturalistic classroom contexts. I also chart future directions for WCF research, focusing on bridging the research-practice divide. Key areas for exploration include research in classroom settings that examines the roles of the learner, the teacher, and the context in which feedback occurs. Research efforts should also address how developments such as generative AI and Global Englishes influence WCF practices, so that WCF research can better foster student feedback literacy and recognize the multilingual resources students bring to their writing, respectively. I conclude the presentation by emphasizing that the future of WCF research lies in discovering ways to empower learners, enabling them to meaningfully and ethically leverage AI and effectively engage with feedback in an increasingly diverse linguistic environment.