Introduction
Feedback is a tool used by teachers worldwide when assessing students’ work. In Singapore, the usefulness and purpose of written feedback is often misconstrued due to limitation in time. Feedback given to students is also only seen for its seemingly more important purpose as a grading tool used by the superior to grade the teachers themselves. In addition, written feedback is also seen by parents and can be a means of representation of the teacher writing it. Due to these factors, emphasis is placed on giving more feedback; quantity as compared to quality. Most teachers neglect the fact that ‘With good quality feedback, teachers can not only correct student writing but also encourage them to adopt good writing practices’ (Paltridge, Harbon, Hirsh, Shen, Stevenson, Phakiti & Woodrow, 2009). However, in order to achieve this purpose, I strongly believe that teachers must make amendments and tweak whilst using the product-approach or move towards including the process approach to ensure that students understand and learn from the written feedback provided before they can start adopting good writing practices.
Using rubrics to enhance effectiveness of feedback
Providing feedback can be purposeful and effective if the teacher incurs some additional steps based on my practicum and contract teaching experience in a primary school and also as an undergraduate student, I feel that a useful method adopted by the teachers was providing rubrics or making the requirements of a task clear from the very start. This helps students assess their own work. As asserted by J. Marzano, Pickering, & E. Pollock (2005), ‘Rubrics provide criteria against which students can compare their learning. ’. By providing a rubric, not only does the students know precisely what is expected of them, the students are also graded and assessed in a standardized manner. As a student, I find it very helpful when I have a set of rubrics to refer to when working on a task assigned to me. When in doubt during the writing process, I can refer to the rubrics and make sure I do not go out of focus. I can also refer to the rubrics after receiving my work from my tutor and study the feedback provided to see which parts my worked lacked in and which parts I need to work on. This is feasible in primary schools in Singapore as we move towards a holistic education system where students are graded not solely based on written examinations but other modes of assessment such as speech and drama and mini group projects.
Direct versus Indirect feedback
Effectiveness of feedback can be enhanced when teachers write it in the form of indirect feedback and not spoon feed the child with direct feedback. Indirect feedback allows for students to engage in what is written and critically think of the mistakes or areas for improvement on their own. According to Paltridge, Harbon, Hirsh, Shen, Stevenson, Phakiti & Woodrow (2009), ‘To be most effective, a teacher’s written feedback on student academic writing needs to be indirect with students constructing new understandings about their writing for themselves.’. This further asserts that indirect feedback, usually categorized as ‘clarification level feedback’ provides for more push towards a student improving in his or her writing. However, most teachers avoid giving indirect feedback due to the belief that feedback should be given in the traditional way. According to Lee, I. (2008), based on a study she conducted, teachers ‘admitted that they had to revert to more traditional approach to protect themselves from criticism by department heads or principals’. This pressure or fear could be a possible factor contributing to the reason why teachers continue giving direct feedback despite the evident effectiveness of indirect feedback.
Adopting the process or product approach
Another step that can be taken by teachers will be to pay attention to when the feedback is given to students. Following the process approach, feedback should be given during drafts instead of the final copy of students’ work. This is to ensure that students are more motivated to work towards improving on their writing instead of the final product and their final grade. However, the product approach appears to be more appealing due to its lesser consumption of time and short-term benefits. Adopting the process approach with assistance of teacher feedback, student writers learn how to critically view and revise their writing and in turn, become better writers (Paltridge, Harbon, Hirsh, Shen, Stevenson, Phakiti & Woodrow, 2009).
ICT tools as a means of providing feedback
The affordances of Information Communications Technology (ICT) tools can be extended to it being used as a means of providing feedback to students. Teachers are able to provide direct feedback on students’ work through the use of online blogging platforms such as Blogger or Wordpress. These online writing journals allow for students to work on their writing as teachers simultaneously give feedback. This becomes a more effective way of providing feedback as students feel more motivated due to the use of ICT instead of the traditional methods of writing.
The comments section made available at the bottom of each blog post also allows for peers and teachers to make comments. ‘Peer feedback prompts students to read each other's writing critically, and to think about how to phrase feedback so that it is constructive’. (Trammel, Schloss, & Alper, 1994). In addition, teachers can get students to post comments at the end of the writing activity or task to share what they have learnt from the feedback the teacher has provided. This helps the teacher ensure that the students actually learn from the feedback and their understanding of it is in line with what the teacher had intended. Students can also comment if they agree or disagree with the teacher’s feedback or comments made by peers. Furthermore, different writing platforms could be used depending on the abilities of the students. According to Paltridge, Harbon, Hirsh, Shen, Stevenson, Phakiti & Woodrow (2009), a study conducted by DiGiovanni and Nagaswami in 2001 found that ‘when using online feedback students believed they could do better, felt more comfortable, and were more interested in the revision process’. All in all, with the world of technology advancing every single day, students are more intrigued and up to date with the use and affordances of technology and should be kept up to date if not. Teachers can do so by including ICT in daily lessons and even in the writing process.
Conclusion
In order to work towards providing constructive feedback in our students’ writing, this understanding of the steps we can take as teachers is essential as at the end of the day, we are the ones who decide how best our students learn due to our interaction with them daily and observations on their individual needs, areas of strengths and weaknesses in writing. For a start, teachers can make use of these additional steps and modify it according to their students’ abilities and the lesson focus.
Word Count: 1153
References
· Lee, I. (2008). Understanding teachers’ written feedback practices in Hong Kong secondary classrooms. Journal of Second Language Writing, 17(2), 69-85.
· Paltridge, Harbon, Hirsh, Shen, Stevenson, Phakiti & Woodrow (2009). Teaching Academic Writing: An introduction for Teachers of Second Language Writers. Michigan: The University of Michigan Press
· Robert J. Marzano, Debra Pickering, & Jane E. Pollock. (2005) Focus on Effectiveness.
Retrieved from http://www.netc.org/focus/strategies/prov.php
· Trammel, D.J., Schloss, P.J., & Alper, S. (1994). Using self-recording and graphing to increase
completion of homework assignments. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 27(2), 75-81.
Feedback is a tool used by teachers worldwide when assessing students’ work. In Singapore, the usefulness and purpose of written feedback is often misconstrued due to limitation in time. Feedback given to students is also only seen for its seemingly more important purpose as a grading tool used by the superior to grade the teachers themselves. In addition, written feedback is also seen by parents and can be a means of representation of the teacher writing it. Due to these factors, emphasis is placed on giving more feedback; quantity as compared to quality. Most teachers neglect the fact that ‘With good quality feedback, teachers can not only correct student writing but also encourage them to adopt good writing practices’ (Paltridge, Harbon, Hirsh, Shen, Stevenson, Phakiti & Woodrow, 2009). However, in order to achieve this purpose, I strongly believe that teachers must make amendments and tweak whilst using the product-approach or move towards including the process approach to ensure that students understand and learn from the written feedback provided before they can start adopting good writing practices.
Using rubrics to enhance effectiveness of feedback
Providing feedback can be purposeful and effective if the teacher incurs some additional steps based on my practicum and contract teaching experience in a primary school and also as an undergraduate student, I feel that a useful method adopted by the teachers was providing rubrics or making the requirements of a task clear from the very start. This helps students assess their own work. As asserted by J. Marzano, Pickering, & E. Pollock (2005), ‘Rubrics provide criteria against which students can compare their learning. ’. By providing a rubric, not only does the students know precisely what is expected of them, the students are also graded and assessed in a standardized manner. As a student, I find it very helpful when I have a set of rubrics to refer to when working on a task assigned to me. When in doubt during the writing process, I can refer to the rubrics and make sure I do not go out of focus. I can also refer to the rubrics after receiving my work from my tutor and study the feedback provided to see which parts my worked lacked in and which parts I need to work on. This is feasible in primary schools in Singapore as we move towards a holistic education system where students are graded not solely based on written examinations but other modes of assessment such as speech and drama and mini group projects.
Direct versus Indirect feedback
Effectiveness of feedback can be enhanced when teachers write it in the form of indirect feedback and not spoon feed the child with direct feedback. Indirect feedback allows for students to engage in what is written and critically think of the mistakes or areas for improvement on their own. According to Paltridge, Harbon, Hirsh, Shen, Stevenson, Phakiti & Woodrow (2009), ‘To be most effective, a teacher’s written feedback on student academic writing needs to be indirect with students constructing new understandings about their writing for themselves.’. This further asserts that indirect feedback, usually categorized as ‘clarification level feedback’ provides for more push towards a student improving in his or her writing. However, most teachers avoid giving indirect feedback due to the belief that feedback should be given in the traditional way. According to Lee, I. (2008), based on a study she conducted, teachers ‘admitted that they had to revert to more traditional approach to protect themselves from criticism by department heads or principals’. This pressure or fear could be a possible factor contributing to the reason why teachers continue giving direct feedback despite the evident effectiveness of indirect feedback.
Adopting the process or product approach
Another step that can be taken by teachers will be to pay attention to when the feedback is given to students. Following the process approach, feedback should be given during drafts instead of the final copy of students’ work. This is to ensure that students are more motivated to work towards improving on their writing instead of the final product and their final grade. However, the product approach appears to be more appealing due to its lesser consumption of time and short-term benefits. Adopting the process approach with assistance of teacher feedback, student writers learn how to critically view and revise their writing and in turn, become better writers (Paltridge, Harbon, Hirsh, Shen, Stevenson, Phakiti & Woodrow, 2009).
ICT tools as a means of providing feedback
The affordances of Information Communications Technology (ICT) tools can be extended to it being used as a means of providing feedback to students. Teachers are able to provide direct feedback on students’ work through the use of online blogging platforms such as Blogger or Wordpress. These online writing journals allow for students to work on their writing as teachers simultaneously give feedback. This becomes a more effective way of providing feedback as students feel more motivated due to the use of ICT instead of the traditional methods of writing.
The comments section made available at the bottom of each blog post also allows for peers and teachers to make comments. ‘Peer feedback prompts students to read each other's writing critically, and to think about how to phrase feedback so that it is constructive’. (Trammel, Schloss, & Alper, 1994). In addition, teachers can get students to post comments at the end of the writing activity or task to share what they have learnt from the feedback the teacher has provided. This helps the teacher ensure that the students actually learn from the feedback and their understanding of it is in line with what the teacher had intended. Students can also comment if they agree or disagree with the teacher’s feedback or comments made by peers. Furthermore, different writing platforms could be used depending on the abilities of the students. According to Paltridge, Harbon, Hirsh, Shen, Stevenson, Phakiti & Woodrow (2009), a study conducted by DiGiovanni and Nagaswami in 2001 found that ‘when using online feedback students believed they could do better, felt more comfortable, and were more interested in the revision process’. All in all, with the world of technology advancing every single day, students are more intrigued and up to date with the use and affordances of technology and should be kept up to date if not. Teachers can do so by including ICT in daily lessons and even in the writing process.
Conclusion
In order to work towards providing constructive feedback in our students’ writing, this understanding of the steps we can take as teachers is essential as at the end of the day, we are the ones who decide how best our students learn due to our interaction with them daily and observations on their individual needs, areas of strengths and weaknesses in writing. For a start, teachers can make use of these additional steps and modify it according to their students’ abilities and the lesson focus.
Word Count: 1153
References
· Lee, I. (2008). Understanding teachers’ written feedback practices in Hong Kong secondary classrooms. Journal of Second Language Writing, 17(2), 69-85.
· Paltridge, Harbon, Hirsh, Shen, Stevenson, Phakiti & Woodrow (2009). Teaching Academic Writing: An introduction for Teachers of Second Language Writers. Michigan: The University of Michigan Press
· Robert J. Marzano, Debra Pickering, & Jane E. Pollock. (2005) Focus on Effectiveness.
Retrieved from http://www.netc.org/focus/strategies/prov.php
· Trammel, D.J., Schloss, P.J., & Alper, S. (1994). Using self-recording and graphing to increase
completion of homework assignments. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 27(2), 75-81.