Tentative/general feedback vs clear ... .au



Tentative/general feedback vs clear feedforward examples The table shows the difference between tentative/general feedback and clear feedforward feedback. If feedback is ambiguous, students may not act on it or know how to apply it. Clear feedforward feedback will help students understand how they can improve their writing for future assignments. Tentative/general feedbackIssue with the feedbackClear feedforward feedbackWord level “Well written with minor error”.The error might be minor but the student will want to know what the error is you are referring to. It should be clearly identified in the student’s work. “There were a few spelling mistakes e.g. ….Don't forget to proofread before submitting. For help with proofreading, read the Academic skills guide to editing and proofreading”.“Proofread your document for spelling before submission”.Good feedback but adding a feedforward element will help the student to know where to get help.“Proofread your document for spelling before submission. For help with proofreading, read the Academic skills guide to editing and proofreading”.Sentence level “Ensure that each sentence makes sense”. Vague feedback. It should explain why the sentences didn’t make sense.“Avoid writing long sentences that mix a number of different ideas. These sentences are difficult to follow and understand what exactly you are trying to say. Include only one or two ideas in each sentence and put explanations into separate sentences. Learn more about writing better sentences from The Purdue Online Writing Lab”.Tentative/general feedbackIssue with the feedbackClear feedforward feedbackSentence level “Grammar and punctuation errors. Sentences should read smoothly”.Several language and academic writing elements mentioned in this comment without any clear feedforward comment.“There are several subject-verb agreement errors e.g. … Ensure subject and verb consistently agree with one another in number (singular or plural) throughout your writing. Have a look at the following resource from Purdue Online Writing Lab to learn more about subject and verb agreement”.Or“There were a number of awkward sentences due to the placement of punctuation marks e.g. …. For further help browse the Punctuation Guide from University of New South Wales”. Paragraph level“Your paragraphs are too short. As a result, your writing reads as though it is a bit disjointed”.Students may not have an idea of an acceptable paragraph length. It is also not clear what makes the writing disjointed so the comment might be confusing to the student. “Be wary of paragraphs that have only 1-3 sentences as this will indicate that the paragraph is not fully and adequately developed. Aim at writing between 4-7 sentences in each paragraph. Ideas joined with linking words such as ‘because’ or ‘however’ increase the flow and readability. For more information, have a look at the Academic skills guide on essay writing (see Expectations and Essay structure sections)”.“Your essay consisted of extremely long blocks of text. It would be improved with thoughtful paragraphing”.Although this feedback indicates that there is an issue with the length of the paragraph, the student may not understand what ‘thoughtful’ means.“Your essay consisted of extremely long blocks of text. You need to have a separate paragraph for each new idea. Aim at writing between 4-7 sentences in each paragraph”.“A paragraph needs to be well structured and should include: a topic sentence, evidence and examples, your analysis and a concluding and/or linking sentence to the next paragraph. To develop your paragraph writing skills, have a look at the Academic skills guide on essay writing (see Essay paragraph planner>Body paragraph planner)”.Tentative/general feedbackIssue with the feedbackClear feedforward feedbackSentence level “Although you had what appeared to be a reasonable format, it was a little haphazard and disjointed throughout. You could improve this by trying to make sure each paragraph has a very clear methodology, the paragraphs are linked, and they have clear transition”.Good feedback as feedforward element is included. However, words such as ‘haphazard’ and ‘methodology’ may be confusing to the student. The student may not know how to apply this feedback. See above.For more examples of clear feedforward comments, please refer to Comments Bank aligned with the feedback framework: word level feedback; sentence level feedback; paragraph level feedback; and text level feedback documents. For your feedback to be effective and useful to students, it:needs to be clear, constructive and includes feedforward comments identifies strengths and weaknesses in student workdescribes how the strengths match the criteria for good workexplains briefly why something is not correctpoints out where improvements can be made and makes suggestions about how to improvemaintains a friendly, professional and supportive toneuses plain English and simple sentence structurefocuses on the task and performance rather than on the student outlines the two or three areas of the student’s assignment that are most in need of attention. It is up to the student to go through the paper to find other instances of similar issues.Avoid being too enthusiastic by giving praises that don’t match the mark. This sends a mixed message. Try to make your feedback a teaching point. Sometimes a simple link to a resource can make a big difference. ................
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