Feedback as a teaching tool

The most common myth about written feedback is that it is given only for assessment. Written feedback is given for both oral and written work and it is an integral part of classroom instruction. Besides chalk-duster-blackboard-textbook paraphernalia, written feedback is a highly effective tool to teach a student. In simple words, written feedback is a written guidance towards unlearning wrong notions and performing better in future assignments.

Closed comments

Most of the teachers think that a written feedback is giving comments such as ‘Outstanding’, ‘Good’ or ‘Bad’. But, the truth is that written feedback is not bleeding the notebook or answer script red with such euphoric or catastrophic adjectives. These adjectives, especially the negative ones, betray the real purpose of offering written feedback: improvement of a student. They can be termed as closed comments. They are generic and don’t tell a student how to improve. Such destructive or harsh words may make a student stubborn or discourage him or her. An overtly appreciative comment may make a student complacent.

A constructive written feedback is that which, like the gardener’s manicuring and feeding the plant, demonstrates the correct or better way to do the task. So, rationally, an ideal written feedback identifies the gaps, explains the reasons for weakness and offers the roadmap to writing the text correctly.

While written feedback in regular classwork is a brick to construct a building, a written feedback in exams explains why the student has earned a particular grade and helps him or her to reflect on the work.

Every written work has both strength and weaknesses irrespective of whether the writer is a slow, average or top learner. As the name goes, a constructive feedback first identifies the strength or merit of a student’s work: however slow a learner may be, his or her write-up has some strength. Appreciating the strength is reinforcement, telling the student that he or she should continue the appreciated points in his or her future work.

A constructive feedback is also student-specific and timely. What inspires an average student to walk an extra mile maybe just a lukewarm one-liner for a meritorious student. Every bright student has room for improvement. ‘You are great’ may sweep past his attention. Such comments are not genuine and appear to be ‘just for the sake of it’ because they don’t identify the parts that are positive. In the case of a rubric-based assessment, the teacher may point out the particular rubric parameter missing and guide on how to achieve it in the next assignment. Not to forget, a written feedback is a good occasion to remind the student if he or she has achieved the lesson objective.

Coming to the emotional quotient that a constructive written feedback builds between a teacher and a student, a few meaningful lines speak aloud that the teacher has engaged herself thoroughly with the student’s work. This makes the student recognise the hard work of the teacher. Most importantly, the student feels valued, recognised and accompanied. The realisation that the teacher does read my writing makes the student feel happy.

A written feedback is a permanent communication that a teacher makes with the student. It engages the student intimately with his or her work and creates moments to feel proud. It cements the teacher-student relationship bridging the gap between teacher-expectation and student-knowledge.