QUICK RESOURCE SHEET #66

Mr. Barteaux of Skowhegan, Maine

Giving feedback

on student writing

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Obviously, the comments we make on a student paper are highly dependent on context. The tone of our comments is affected by the kind of persona we create in class, the kind of persona the student creates in class, our relationship with the student, the assignment itself, the student's performance, and on and on.

from http://www.nd.edu/~fwriting/seminars/comment.shtml

The feedback on students' writing falls into one of four categories:

• Empathy merely means finding something within the writing that you can echo with your own experience.
• Sharing is the act of sharing an experience that in some way directly relates to the writer's ideas.
• Elicitation allows you to suggest ways in which the writer could add to what has already been written on the paper, and takes the form of either questions or direct commands such as "Tell me more about..." or "I'd like to know more about this..."
• Encouragement is perhaps the most vague of the categories since it merely acknowledges that the writer has written well by saying "You have written a good piece."

from http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Dickson-Freewriting.html

Here are more resources for learning about giving meaningful feedback to students on their writing.

http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Williams-Feedback.html

“There are several faults that lie with traditional methods of correcting grammatical errors. The outright correction of surface errors has been found to be inconsistent, unclear and overemphasizes the negative (Fregeau, 1999; Cohen, & Cavalcanti, 1990). Moreover, when this type of feedback is given, students for the most part simply copy the corrections into their subsequent drafts or final copies… Having students merely copy teacher corrections into rewrites is a passive action that does not teach students how to recognize or correct errors on their own. Fregeau discovered that the method of teachers indicating the presence or types of errors without correction is also ineffective. Many times the students do not understand why the errors were indicated and simply guess the corrections as they rewrite.”

http://www2.sjsu.edu/100w/assessment_feedback.htm

“Some instructors actually require students to write a short response explaining what they thought about the instructor’s feedback and how they plan to take it into account in the next draft. Another approach is to ask students to attach a cover letter to the next draft, explaining how they handled the suggestions give to them on the previous draft (similar to a cover letter when professionals are asked to revise and resubmit).”

http://www.buowl.boun.edu.tr/teachers/CORRECTING%20AND%20GIVING%20FEEDBACK%20TO%20WRITING.pdf

“We have all written papers for some courses to be checked and graded by our instructors. We know very well that a paper that is returned with red markings and notes all over is quite discouraging for the writer. Knowing this, while giving feedback we may of course use pink pens and put smiling faces here and there on the paper but still we see the light in the students’ eye fading. If our aim is to win the student instead of discouraging him, we should be looking for ways of giving feedback without losing the student.”

Previous editions of the QUICK RESOURCE SHEET

#1 – Creating quizzes (and more) online                                                         

#2 – Vocabulary builders

#3 – Online discussion groups for English teachers                                    

#4 – Grammar headaches – and how to cure them

#5 – Resources for new teachers                                                     

#6 – International Education Week

#7 – Mentoring programs                                                                    

#8 – Education publications online

#9 – Applied Linguistics                                                                   

#10 – English for Young Learners

#11 – World AIDS Day                                                                      

#12 – Online writing guides

#13 – E-mail exchanges                                                                      

#14 – Free online English courses

#15 – Effective e-mail communication                                             

#16 – Libraries online

#17 – American Studies                                                                     

#18 – Teaching methodologies

#19 – Internet tutorials                                                                       

#20 – Using the newspaper – Part I

#21 – Making books                                                                           

#22 - Using the newspaper – Part II

#23 – Human rights in language teaching

#24 – Blogging

#25 – Poetry and language teaching

#26 – The communicative approach

#27 -  Idioms

#28 – Earth Day

#29 – Alternative assessment

#30 – Peer assessment

#31 – Self-assessment

#32 – Portfolio assessment – Part I

#33 -  Portfolio assessment - Part II (Online Portfolios)

#34 – Intercultural communication

#35 – Teaching Adults

#36 – Learning disorders / Special needs

#37 – Using computers in reading instruction

#38 – Use of authentic materials

#39 – English for Medical Purposes

#40 – Sources for authentic materials

#41 – Education and technology

#42 – Academic writing

#43 – Teaching and stress

#44 – Back to school

#45 – Motivating students

#46 – Action research

#47 – Internet terminology

#48 – Fluency

#49 – Curriculum design

#50 – Pragmatics

#51 - Podcasting for English teachers

#52 – Critical reading

#53 – Learner autonomy

#54 – Scaffolding

#55 – Holidays

#56 – English for Academic Purposes

#57 – Mixed-level classes

#58 – The brain and language learning

#59 – Book clubs/Readers’ groups

#60 – Teachers and technology

#61 – Using video in the language classroom

#62 – Internet-based classroom projects

#63 – Observing student teachers

#64 – Digital literacy

#65 – Group work