Discovery College English Department 28.10.

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Summary from: Hattie John and Helen Timperley. (2010) The Power of Feedback, retrieved from http://rer.aera.net, January 15, 2010. Kai Fong Andy. 23 February (2010). Feedback, Curriculum Leaders Meeting: Discovery College.

What is feedback?
Definition created by curriculum leaders 2010: Any form of communication that forms part of a dialogue, in response to evidence of student cognitive and affective processes, product and skill to further student achievement. Feedback is information with which a leader can confirm, add to, overwrite, tune or restructure information in memory, whether that information is domain knowledge, metacognitive knowledge, belief about self and tasks, or cognitive tactics or strategies. (Winne and Butler 1994 cited in Hattie, p. 82)

What makes feedback effective?

To be effectively integrated into the instructional process, feedback needs to provide information specifically relating to the task or process of learning that fills the gap between what is understood and what is aimed to be understood. (Hattie et al. 2010, p. 82) Evidence shows that although feedback is among the major influences on learning and achievement, the type of feedback and the way it is given can be differentially effective.

Studies show the highest effect size involve students receiving information feedback about a task and how to do it more effectively.

Effective feedback must answer three major questions asked by a teacher and/or by a student:
1. Where am I going (What are the goals?) 2. How am I going? (What progress is being made towards the goal?) 3. Where to next? (What activities need to be undertaken to make better progress?) Feedback aimed to move students from task to processes and then from processing to regulation is most effective.

Task understanding

Processing Cognitive processes, strategies, approaches

Regulation (metacognitive awareness, self regulating strategies)

Are we giving students feedback appropriate to the level at which they are operating? General feedback such as Good girl, Well done, Great effort are shown to be ineffective. These comments are rarely converted into more engagement, commitment to the learning goals, enhanced self-efficacy, or understanding. (Hattie 2010, p.96)

What format should feedback take?

Feedback needs to be regular. It needs to match the student and context in which the learning is taking place. What implications does this have for EAL / IN students who struggle with either auditory processing (with regards to verbal feedback) or accessing written text (with regards to written feedback)?

Various forms: Detailed annotation (good for feedback during process and giving specific information relevant to parts of a text) Written summative comments (good for final product but not as useful for feedback during process) Oral (good for providing immediacy particularly good for student with IN where attention is problematic, good for basis of discussion in which input of student is possible)