Hello colleagues, A recent study highlighted in Chalkbeat showed that the timing of teacher feedback plays an important role in student achievement. "The study, conducted [with young children] ... suggests that once a lesson is taught, immediately telling students if they are solving problems correctly or incorrectly can lead to lower performance on subsequent problems and post-tests. If a student is working on problems before learning the material, however, immediate feedback is helpful."
Does this finding resonate with your experience? Check out the brief report and let us know your thoughts about how the timing of teacher feedback may or may not affect student learning.
Cheers, Susan Finn Miller
Moderator, Assessment CoP
Comments
I've definitely seen that the timing (and content!) of feedback is very important in instruction. I was intrigued that feedback was more helpful before a student had been taught how to do something. I wonder if this has to do with "calibrating" the student's idea of what the right answer could look like.
Maybe this point about feedback is part of why pair/group work can be so effective--instead of a blanket "that's right" or "that's wrong," (ideal) partners tend to say, "I got something different, let's figure out which one is right." That keeps students thinking about what makes sense and what they know about the problem, and even if a student switches to their partner's answer, it tends to feel more positive than the teacher saying, "no, that's not right." It's still the student thinking through the problem instead of just getting shut down with a yes or no. This makes me think again about some of the learning software out there--right now, computer-generated feedback seems to consist pretty much of instantaneous right/wrong, with occasional attempts at "here's why." Looks like we might want to re-think that model...
I do agree with one of the commenters on the article that just saying "right" or "wrong" is not very helpful feedback. I'd like to see how the story changes if the tutor gives more specific, process-oriented feedback.
Hi Rachel, Thank you for your thoughtful posting. The article points out that research on feedback has been mixed. It's possible that the timing of the feedback could be one reason for this. As noted, the researcher Emily Fyfe indicated that
“Although our natural inclination may be to step in and guide children through the difficult tasks, it may actually undermine their efforts and deprive them of the opportunity to make sense of the math problem on their own,” she said. “Under some conditions, we may need to refrain from ‘rescuing’ children by providing them with feedback, and instead let them struggle, engage and learn on their own.”
It is really interesting to me to consider the potential value of allowing learners to "struggle, engage and learn on their own." The focus of this study was math, but it reminds me of what I have been learning about teaching reading from the book Reading for Understanding. [Back in the spring, some members participated in a discussion of this book on LINCS.] The authors of this text emphasize that allowing students to struggle with a text AND work together to figure out confusing parts can be important.
As you point out, Rachel, working with others can often deepen students' understanding -- often more effectively than teacher feedback.
I share your wondering about the kind of feedback that is given. A simple 'right' or 'wrong' doesn't provide the student with any useful guidance. The kind of feedback I prefer begins with asking students to explain their thinking. When we see what students are thinking, this gives us valuable insight into what the student has misunderstood. With that information, we can offer more constructive feedback.
Let's hear from others about what you have found effective in providing feedback! Have you found it valuable to allow students to "struggle" a bit? How about having students work with a partner or two to provide each other with feedback and --perhaps-- struggle together to figure things out?
Cheers, Susan Finn Miller
Moderator, Assessment CoP
I agree that timing is key. Also patience. Many students, given the time to process, will err in a hurry, then self-correct shortly after speaking. Sometimes other students will also supply correction for the error.
There are several ways to correct errors that I have found less intrusive. When a student is speaking in front of the class, I take notes of the errors. I then may repeat the sentence correctly and have all the students repeat it, or give the feedback to the student privately later. Another method is to write the sentence on the board, as spoken, and ask the class to identify the errors. When the correction comes from the class, as opposed to the teacher, it has a less negative connotation and includes everyone in the process. Then have them copy the corrected text into their notebooks and perhaps expand the lesson to discuss the particular error (if it is made by all students and needs addressing). During speech, when a student is speaking, it is tempting to interrupt the student to correct his errors, but this is frustrating, confusing, and ineffective for the teacher (recall how it was for you as a L2 speaker). If we want students to generate language naturally and fluently, then spoken language must be generated the same way native speakers write. For example, when we teach writing, it's all about the editing process. We start with "free writing" and expand, then hone through out the process. Giving students the latitude, safe environment, and encouragement to speak freely, with errors, is more important than perfect speech, because it will generate more speech, more fluently. Now the teacher has a better idea of the overall fluency of the student, his ability to express ideas, and the areas to target for correction. It is only when working on a particular grammar issue, for example, adding the past tense sound to verbs, that correction during the lesson is helpful, and can be done by simply pointing at the correct sound on the board, as the student speaks (e.g., if the students says "walk-ed", the teacher can point to the /t/ sound on the board to correct, or repeat the verb correctly). Written correction is more difficult and time consuming. Using Word comments/review features to ask students questions about errors, rather than correct the errors is the best method I have found to retaining correction.
Hello Arlyn and all, Thanks for your thoughtful posting about supporting English learners with feedback on speaking. I think your comments about feedback on writing would apply to all students whether they are English language learners or not.
Of course, providing feedback on writing is an important issue for teachers. Arlyn suggests asking questions about writing rather than correcting errors. What might be the benefits of this approach? Can anyone share specific examples?
What have other members found to be effective in supporting adult learners to improve their writing? What is your approach, for instance, when teaching writing for high school equivalency testing?
Cheers, Susan Finn Miller
Moderator, Assessment CoP