Feedback is communication intended to improve overall performance. Feedback is expected in school, in business, and in other life pursuits. Teachers use feedback as a means of improving student learning. Formative assessment has been characterized as a type of feedback. Irons (2008) notes that formative assessment is non-graded communication, while feedback is any type of comment from another individual which might result in learning (whether the information is graded or not).
Types of Feedback
Whatever the task, students benefit from critical appraisal provided by others. The others can include peers or students and teachers. Teachers are most often thought of as sources of feedback; however, a student’s peers can also be excellent sources of feedback. A framework for thinking about the types of feedback can be helpful. Even though some types of feedback are intended to correct mistakes, not all feedback notes only errors.
Feedback as Affirmation
Students are often novices at learning subjects and processes. Because they are not experts, they often believe they have completed a task correctly or executed a process efficiently. However, students may not be sure that their work is done correctly or efficiently; thus, feedback that affirms the quality of student work is more beneficial than a teacher might at first realize. Picture a student who has just written a bit of dialog as part of a short story but is unsure of the placement of the comma between the attribution and the quote. If the student did punctuate the dialog correctly, an affirmation is in order.
Feedback That Clarifies
Because students usually attempt to learn content their teachers believe is important, they make continual efforts at precision. However, they are not always aware of the attributes of the concept they are attempting to master. Feedback that clarifies can help students to be more precise and to learn the important characteristics of a concept. Imagine a student who is trying to understand figurative language and knows that fog and cat feet in Sandburg’s famous poem is a metaphor. The teacher can clarify what the student already knows by identifying the poem as an extended metaphor.
Teachers can reinforce specific behaviors by noticing the behavior or product and naming it (Johnston, 2004). For example, a student may have correctly applied the Pythagorean theorem to determine the height of an object but may not remember the name of the principle involved. The teacher, an expert, might notice the use of the principle and name it in a comment to the student. As a result, the student learns the principle, may be able to use it in other circumstances, and acquires a name for the principle, as well.
Feedback as Observations, Questions, Explorations
Sometimes, a teacher’s role is to simply observe and note the behavior or process. If a student in a food science or home economics class chooses to use kosher salt instead of table salt and the choice makes a difference in the preparation of the food, the teacher may simply note the difference. It is then up to the student to determine if the choice is an effective one or not.
Questions can be an effective form of feedback, particularly when the teacher wants the student to think about the attributes of the concept. A teacher might ask, “Why did you choose to use the word “enrich” instead of “”enhance” in this part of your essay?” Questions can help students think in new and deeper ways or point students toward a concept that may not have occurred to them previously.
Some types of tasks call for students explore a variety of options, some or all of which could result in possible correct or acceptable outcomes. Feedback that offers new possibilities for the student to explore can expand the student’s thinking and accelerate learning. In some cases, students competently reproduce the process or product exactly as it was presented. In these instances, the teacher may prod the student to go beyond what has been learned by inviting further exploration. A student who understands the three branches of the Federal government in the United States may be prompted to compare that with the origins of the Magna Carta in Britain.
Correction is Easiest Type of Feedback
Perhaps the easiest type of feedback is the correction. In most cases, a capital letter belongs at the beginning of a sentence, and students who forget to capitalize the initial letter should be corrected. However, corrections are often not as straightforward as one might assume. A common misconception among students and sometimes teachers is that mass and volume are synonymous. A student who mistakes the two concepts is in need of correction; however, a student who realizes there is a difference but cannot explain the difference is in need of clarification.
By realizing that the form of feedback differs and applying the correct form given the learning context, teachers can improve student performance. Increasingly precise feedback and feedback that invites creative and explorative thinking may awaken the intrinsic desire to learn teachers hope for their students.
For further reading:
Feedback on Student Work Builds Relationships and Purposes for Feedback on Student Work
References
Irons, A. Enhancing learning through formative assessment and feedback. London: Routledge, 2009.
Johnston, P. H. Choice words: How our language affects children’s learning. Portland, ME: Stenhouse, 2004.
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