english language teaching uh lecturers’ written feedback and students’ use of feedback – a...

English Language TeachingEnglish Language Teaching

UH Lecturers’ written feedback and students’ use of feedback – a match made in heaven?

Mary Martala-Lockett & Jayne ParryELT UnitCombined Studies


• 2 questionnaires to JH1 students + phone interviews + samples of Sem A coursework with lecturer feedback attached– 1st questionnaire - Sept 2007, 192 students– 2nd questionnaire – post Sem A, 11 students– informal interviews – post Sem A, 53 students– samples of work: 39 students

• 1 questionnaire to 18 JH1 lecturers + informal interviews

Methodology


Students’ pre-entry experienceof feedback

Results of first student questionnaire


169

116

142

49 1

Students' experience of writing at entry

answers to exam questionstexts under 1 pagetexts 1 - 3 pagestexts 4 plus pagesother


139

175

123

135

Students' experience of feedback at entry

mark/grade onlymark & some written feedbackmark & ample written feedbackmark with oral feedback


2

44

132

15

Number of times assessed work is consulted

neveronce2 - 4 timesover 5 times


miscellaneous

to check mistakes/omissions

to understand comments

to review strengths/weaknesses

only if relevant to current work

to check areas to revise

to see where I went wrong

to learn from mistakes

to correct my work

to improve future assignments

it's done - no need to look at it

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

25

7

11

24

6

9

17

16

13

73

12

Students' reasons for consulting feedback (or not)


Yes No0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

180

178

13

Students receiving feedback on drafts prior to UH

English Language TeachingEnglish Language Teachingquite useful useful very useful extremely

usefulnot useful no drafts

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

5%

12%

69%

4%1%

9%

Students' rating of draft work


on cover sheet

on the essay

as footnotes

on essay & cover sheet

written + tutorial

recorded or oral

emailed

negotiated

other

0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180

91

162

66

111

142

25

66

32

4

Students' preferred feedback method


praise

content

organisation

use of language

language corrections

name and correct error

underline, no correction

question error

request further info

ticks

use of error codes

mark only

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70%

Preferred feedback comments

English Language TeachingEnglish Language Teaching0

20406080

100120140

Yes

No

Not sure

123

18

51

Students who would like the opportunity to nego-tiate type of feedback with lecturer in advance


Students’ experienceof feedback at UH

Results of second student questionnaire


answers

to exam questi

ons

texts under 1

page

texts 1 - 3

pages

texts 4 plus p

agesother

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

120%

Students' experience of writing

pre-entryat UH


Times students have consulted assessed work

neveronce2 - 4 timesover 5 times


mark/grade only

mark & some written feedback

mark & ample written feedback

mark with oral feedback

0%10%

20%30%

40%50%

60%70%

80%90%

100%

Students' experience & preference of feedback

students find usefulat UHpre-entry


very happy

happy

unhappy

other

N/A

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Students' feelings about feedback received


on cover sheet

on the essay

as footnotes

on essay & cover sheet

written + tutorial

recorded or oral

emailed

negotiated

0% 10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%

Feedback method

sts' received feedback method sts' preferred feedback method


praise

content

organisation

use of language

language corrections

name and correct error

underline, no correction

question error

request further info

ticks

use of error codes

mark only

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%

64%

59%

36%

27%

50%

0%

32%

50%

32%

73%

5%

18%

73%

45%

64%

36%

55%

45%

18%

36%

45%

45%

27%

9%

Are students receiving the type of comments they would like?

preferred commentsreceived comments


yes

no

not sure

no answer

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90%

Negotiation of type of feedback

Lecturers who would like to negotiate feedbackStudents who had op-portunity to negotiate feedbackStudents who would like to negotiate feedback


Lecturers’ views on feedback

Results of questionnaire


university requirement

helps students

explain what was right + wrong

explain what was wrong

dialogue with students

encourage and motivate

justify mark

advise on how to improve

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

2

8

5

6

1

1

2

4

Reasons for providing feedback


comments on cover sheet

all along text/essay

bottom of page

on text + on cover sheet

comments + tutorial

recorded (oral) comments

emailed comments

agree method

0 2 4 6 8 10 12

Number of Lecturers

How do you provide feedback on students' work?


other

praise

content

comments on organisation

comments on use of language

corrections of grammar + spelling

naming error + correction

underlining error only

questions

request for info.

ticks

use of error code

mark only

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20

What does your feedback include?


student trainingno comment

peer marking face to face

onus is on studentsfeedback via a sound file inter-relate assessments

earlier feedback peer oral feedback

tutorialsstudents to write a learning analysis

standardise across dept. return feedback without grade

feedback glossary

0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5

How can use of feedback be improved?


0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Opportunity for feedback on drafts

feedback on drafts pre-entryfeedback on drafts at UHlecturers' answers


extremely useful

very useful

useful

varies according to student use

quite useful

not useful

no drafts

0% 5% 10%15%20%25%30%35%40%

9%

36%

18%

9%

0%

27%

0.330000000000001

0.28

0.17

0.22

How is draft work rated?

lecturers' viewsstudents' views


Feedback on Student Coursework


ticks

coded comment

underlining

a few comments on text

some comments on text

many/detailed comments on text

comment tick box

criteria box

comments on cover sheet

40%

4%

1%

34%

5%

25%

14%

31%

50%

Methods of delivering feedback (based on 74 pieces of written coursework)


4

ticks + few comments on text; 8

2

2

11

2

3

1

7

6111115

3

3

11

4

2

21

2

4

5

Methods of Providing feedback (28 Possible Combina-tions) marks on cover sheet, marks + ticks on text

ticks + few comments on text written comments on text comments on cover, a few on textcriteria + cover comments only a few comments on cover, ticks + few comments on textcriteria marks on top sheet + comments criteria marks on top sheet + few comments on textcriteria marks on top sheet + few comments + ticks on textcriteria marks on top sheet +few comments + few comments on textcriteria marks + some comments on cover + detailed comments on text + tickscriteria marks on cover + detailed comments on text + markscriteria marks + comments on cover + ticks on textcriteria + cover comments + a few underliningcriteria marks on top sheet +few comments + detail marks on text, comment on final pageticks and detailed written comments on textsome comments on top sheet+ few on textdetailed comments on cover sheet onlysome comments on a top sheet+ ticks + coded comments on texttick box + correctioncomments + tick box+detailed comments on texttick box + ticks on texttick box + comments on texttick box + comments on cover sheet tick box, detailed comments + ticks on textsome comments on cover + ticks on textcomments + tick box+detailed comments on text + ticksdetailed comments on cover and text


Praise

ticks

comments

on content

comments

on organisa

tion

comments

on use of la

nguag

e

langu

age co

rrecti

ons

name an

d corre

ct erro

r

underlining e

rrors

but no co

rrecti

on

questi

ons/furth

er info re

quested

use of e

rror c

odes

mark only

criticis

m

comments

on referencin

g 0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Comparison between the feedback lecturers stated they would give, students’ preferences and the feedback provided

Lecturers' answers

Student preferences

Actual


Conclusion:

feedback is valued;

reduced use of drafts at UH;

mismatch in feedback delivery;

mismatch in type of feedback;

too much variety in the methods of providing written feedback?


Recommendations :

some standardisation of the delivery of written feedback

increased use of drafts

increased one to one contact with lecturers

negotiation of the type of feedback provided

english language teaching uh lecturers’ written feedback and students’ use of feedback – a...

Documents

student questionnaire

student coursework slide

type of feedback

lecturer feedback

feedback delivery mismatch

students samples of

nd questionnaire post

lecturers views