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Corrective feedback is a frequent practice in the field of learning and achievement. It typically involves a learner receiving either formal or informal feedback on their understanding or performance on various tasks by an agent such as teacher, employer or peer(s). [1] To successfully deliver corrective feedback, it needs to be nonevaluative, supportive, timely, and specific. [2]
Various types of corrective feedback exist, each with its own appropriate uses. Corrective feedback begins in early childhood with motherese, in which a parent or caregiver provides subtle corrections of a young child's spoken errors. Such feedback, known as a recast, often leads to the child repeating their utterance correctly (or with fewer errors) in imitation of the parent's model.
At the preschool or kindergarten level, corrective feedback is usually informal and verbal. Such feedback is common in the higher grades, as well, but, as students progress through the grades, it is conventional practice for their teachers to provide written corrections on their work samples or on separate feedback sheets. Written and oral feedback can be provided in the form of sentences (i.e., anecdotal feedback) describing the work's merits and weaknesses, in which case a typical practice involves the teacher pointing out three strengths and one "next step" for future improvement. Written feedback in particular can involve a certain amount of "markup" on the student's work, with errors underlined or circled and corrections inserted or noted in the margins.
Feedback can also be recorded as a score, such as a percentage, a letter grade, or an achievement level defined by a specific reference. Grades can be based on the teacher's overall impression of the work, but assessment based on explicit criteria is increasingly common. An example of such holistic assessment is a rubric. A typical rubric is a chart in the form of a grid that lists several criteria, performance indicators, and achievement levels. For example, a rubric for an essay-writing assignment may include "grammar" as one of its criteria; the performance indicator for an achievement level of "B" in grammar may be, "The essay contains several minor grammatical errors" while the performance indicator for an achievement level of "A" in grammar may be, "The essay contains no grammatical errors." Such rubrics enable students to see their strengths and weaknesses vis-à-vis the various criteria.
Ways that would not be considered corrective feedback are just insults, telling someone that they are not good enough without telling why is not corrective feedback, it's just being rude and hurtful.
In the higher grades, corrections can become more numerous or more nuanced, although the frequency of corrections varies from teacher to teacher. Such corrections may be random in an effort to communicate to the student the range of errors made. Alternatively, corrections may be focused on a set of selected error types. For instance, teachers sometimes focus on correcting basic errors first in the hope of helping students overcome them promptly in order to address more complicated errors in subsequent assignments. Teachers may correct one, several, or even all instances of a particular error.
Some debate exists as to the number of total corrections that teachers should make on a given piece of work. Teachers who make voluminous corrections give a "true" sense of the extent to which students require remediation, but such feedback can be overwhelming. If students take such feedback to heart, they may see their performance as a failure, thus injuring their self-image and confidence. Students might then negate such feedback and dismiss it as overly critical, or they might fear that the teacher is biased against them personally. In contrast, teachers who make sparse corrections may better enable their students to focus on improving in one or a few key areas, but the omission of other helpful corrections may be detrimental to their students' progress in the long run. Specifically, students who make certain errors might be led to perceive that they are not making errors at all, or that those errors are not significant enough to warrant the effort required to re-learn the concepts involved and avoid similar errors in the future. [3]
In the business world, feedback can be used as motivational tool as well as a coaching one. [4] Best practice of feedback in the workplace consist of
Feedback systems can also provide corrective feedback. Unlike teachers or peers, who may take days or even weeks to provide feedback on an assignment, technology-mediated feedback can provide timely feedback, which is often cited as a key factor in its positive reception by students. [2] Moreover, software systems are immune to accusations of personal bias. Due to their excellent information-processing abilities, software systems track the types of errors made, rank them according to frequency, and redirect students to focus on those errors predefined as most in need of attention. Platforms such as OnTask help instructors to craft customized feedback messages to students. [5] However, feedback does not automatically improve student learning. It is important to understand how students perceive it and how they turn the information they have been given to action. [6] [7] [8]
In light of the delicate balancing act between giving too much or too little corrective feedback, a number of alternative forms of feedback exist which can help students better identify and avoid errors. Sometimes, though, a change of attitude suffices. Students who do not take well to corrective feedback may need to be persuaded that a greater amount of feedback than they would have expected may, indeed, be quite helpful to them in the long run. On the other side of the coin, teachers who previously felt compelled to correct as many errors as possible in order to "help" their students to the utmost extent might decide that it is better to focus students' attention on correcting the most glaring errors rather than marking up all errors, which can be exhausting for both parties. Indeed, the field of second language acquisition has been witnessing a shift by teachers towards a greater focus on fluency - i.e., the ability to write and speak at a natural, productive pace - rather than nitpicking over matters of form, such as spelling or punctuation. By way of analogy, even in the field of mathematics, which is traditionally seen as one in which the avoidance of errors is critical, there has been an increased focus on creative problem-solving and mental estimation in light of the ubiquity of technologies, such as spreadsheets and calculators, that aid in verifying accuracy.
By virtue of their training and experience in a particular field, teachers may be the most authoritative source of corrective feedback, but, under certain circumstances, there may be other sources of feedback that are more successful. As mentioned previously, peers can be quite helpful to each other, especially in the case of more proficient peers helping their more needy counterparts. Care needs to be taken, however, to ensure that peers are not overly critical of one another. Therefore, teachers may instruct students to limit the amount of negative feedback while ensuring a sufficient amount of positive feedback.
When it comes to grading school work or papers, it is important to offer comments and suggestions that will improve the student's ability and allow them to grow. Some suggestions to be effective in doing so have been offered by instructors and can be summarized as follows:
Informal teacher-student interactions and written comments without grades are also alternatives to the more common practice of formal, written feedback. Such forms of feedback are typically formative, not summative - i.e., they are intended to help students develop, not merely to grade or rank their performance on a task. They can be quite corrective in nature, but the absence of a summative grade can reduce student anxiety and encourage risk-taking, as students perceive their errors merely as part of a work in progress. [9]
A newer form of corrective feedback is IF-AT forms. The Immediate Feedback Assessment Technique, also known as the IF-AT, is a testing system that transforms traditional multiple-choice testing into an interactive learning opportunity for students and a more informative assessment opportunity for teachers. The IF-AT uses a multiple-choice answer form with a thin opaque film covering the answer options. Instead of using a pencil to fill in a circle, each student scratches off their answer as if scratching a lottery ticket. The student scratches off the coating of the rectangle corresponding with their first-choice answer. If the answer is correct, a star or other symbol appears somewhere within the rectangle indicating he/she found the correct answer. The student's learning is immediately reinforced, the student receives full credit for the answer, and moves on to the next question. If incorrect, the student must re-read the question and remaining answer options and scratch off a second or even third choice until the correct answer is identified. The student will earn partial credit for multiple attempts and learn the correct response for each question while taking the test. One of the keys to the IF-AT system is that students never leave a question without knowing the correct answer. [10]
Peer review is the evaluation of work by one or more people with similar competencies as the producers of the work. It functions as a form of self-regulation by qualified members of a profession within the relevant field. Peer review methods are used to maintain quality standards, improve performance, and provide credibility. In academia, scholarly peer review is often used to determine an academic paper's suitability for publication. Peer review can be categorized by the type of activity and by the field or profession in which the activity occurs, e.g., medical peer review. It can also be used as a teaching tool to help students improve writing assignments.
A second language (L2) is a language spoken in addition to one's first language (L1). A second language may be a neighbouring language, another language of the speaker's home country, or a foreign language. A speaker's dominant language, which is the language a speaker uses most or is most comfortable with, is not necessarily the speaker's first language. For example, the Canadian census defines first language for its purposes as "the first language learned in childhood and still spoken", recognizing that for some, the earliest language may be lost, a process known as language attrition. This can happen when young children start school or move to a new language environment.
Instructional scaffolding is the support given to a student by an instructor throughout the learning process. This support is specifically tailored to each student; this instructional approach allows students to experience student-centered learning, which tends to facilitate more efficient learning than teacher-centered learning. This learning process promotes a deeper level of learning than many other common teaching strategies.
Educational assessment or educational evaluation is the systematic process of documenting and using empirical data on the knowledge, skill, attitudes, aptitude and beliefs to refine programs and improve student learning. Assessment data can be obtained by examining student work directly to assess the achievement of learning outcomes or it is based on data from which one can make inferences about learning. Assessment is often used interchangeably with test but is not limited to tests. Assessment can focus on the individual learner, the learning community, a course, an academic program, the institution, or the educational system as a whole. The word "assessment" came into use in an educational context after the Second World War.
Cooperative learning is an educational approach which aims to organize classroom activities into academic and social learning experiences. There is much more to cooperative learning than merely arranging students into groups, and it has been described as "structuring positive interdependence." Students must work in groups to complete tasks collectively toward academic goals. Unlike individual learning, which can be competitive in nature, students learning cooperatively can capitalize on one another's resources and skills. Furthermore, the teacher's role changes from giving information to facilitating students' learning. Everyone succeeds when the group succeeds. Ross and Smyth (1995) describe successful cooperative learning tasks as intellectually demanding, creative, open-ended, and involve higher-order thinking tasks. Cooperative learning has also been linked to increased levels of student satisfaction.
In the realm of US education, a rubric is a "scoring guide used to evaluate the quality of students' constructed responses" according to James Popham. In simpler terms, it serves as a set of criteria for grading assignments. Typically presented in table format, rubrics contain evaluative criteria, quality definitions for various levels of achievement, and a scoring strategy. They play a dual role for teachers in marking assignments and for students in planning their work.
A lesson plan is a teacher's detailed description of the course of instruction or "learning trajectory" for a lesson. A daily lesson plan is developed by a teacher to guide class learning. Details will vary depending on the preference of the teacher, subject being covered, and the needs of the students. There may be requirements mandated by the school system regarding the plan. A lesson plan is the teacher's guide for running a particular lesson, and it includes the goal, how the goal will be reached and a way of measuring how well the goal was reached.
An intelligent tutoring system (ITS) is a computer system that imitates human tutors and aims to provide immediate and customized instruction or feedback to learners, usually without requiring intervention from a human teacher. ITSs have the common goal of enabling learning in a meaningful and effective manner by using a variety of computing technologies. There are many examples of ITSs being used in both formal education and professional settings in which they have demonstrated their capabilities and limitations. There is a close relationship between intelligent tutoring, cognitive learning theories and design; and there is ongoing research to improve the effectiveness of ITS. An ITS typically aims to replicate the demonstrated benefits of one-to-one, personalized tutoring, in contexts where students would otherwise have access to one-to-many instruction from a single teacher, or no teacher at all. ITSs are often designed with the goal of providing access to high quality education to each and every student.
Discovery learning is a technique of inquiry-based learning and is considered a constructivist based approach to education. It is also referred to as problem-based learning, experiential learning and 21st century learning. It is supported by the work of learning theorists and psychologists Jean Piaget, Jerome Bruner, and Seymour Papert.
In an educational setting, standards-based assessment is assessment that relies on the evaluation of student understanding with respect to agreed-upon standards, also known as "outcomes". The standards set the criteria for the successful demonstration of the understanding of a concept or skill.
A course evaluation is a paper or electronic questionnaire, which requires a written or selected response answer to a series of questions in order to evaluate the instruction of a given course. The term may also refer to the completed survey form or a summary of responses to questionnaires.
Formative assessment, formative evaluation, formative feedback, or assessment for learning, including diagnostic testing, is a range of formal and informal assessment procedures conducted by teachers during the learning process in order to modify teaching and learning activities to improve student attainment. The goal of a formative assessment is to monitor student learning to provide ongoing feedback that can help students identify their strengths and weaknesses and target areas that need work. It also helps faculty recognize where students are struggling and address problems immediately. It typically involves qualitative feedback for both student and teacher that focuses on the details of content and performance. It is commonly contrasted with summative assessment, which seeks to monitor educational outcomes, often for purposes of external accountability.
Authentic assessment is the measurement of "intellectual accomplishments that are worthwhile, significant, and meaningful" Authentic assessment can be devised by the teacher, or in collaboration with the student by engaging student voice. When applying authentic assessment to student learning and achievement, a teacher applies criteria related to “construction of knowledge, disciplined inquiry, and the value of achievement beyond the school.”
Assessment in computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) environments is a subject of interest to educators and researchers. The assessment tools utilized in computer-supported collaborative learning settings are used to measure groups' knowledge learning processes, the quality of groups' products and individuals' collaborative learning skills.
Peer critique, a specialized form of critique, is the common practice of professional peers, especially writers, reviewing and providing constructive criticism of each other's work before that work is turned in for credit or professional review.
Peer assessment, or self-assessment, is a process whereby students or their peers grade assignments or tests based on a teacher's benchmarks. The practice is employed to save teachers time and improve students' understanding of course materials as well as improve their metacognitive skills. Rubrics are often used in conjunction with self- and peer-assessment.
Peer feedback is a practice where feedback is given by one student to another. Peer feedback provides students opportunities to learn from each other. After students finish a writing assignment but before the assignment is handed in to the instructor for a grade, the students have to work together to check each other's work and give comments to the peer partner. Comments from peers are called as peer feedback. Peer feedback can be in the form of corrections, opinions, suggestions, or ideas to each other. Ideally, peer feedback is a two-way process in which one cooperates with the other.
In second language acquisition, error treatment refers to the way teachers respond to learners' linguistic errors made in the course of learning a second language. Many error treatment studies seek to address issues like when, how, and by whom such errors should be corrected.
Writing assessment refers to an area of study that contains theories and practices that guide the evaluation of a writer's performance or potential through a writing task. Writing assessment can be considered a combination of scholarship from composition studies and measurement theory within educational assessment. Writing assessment can also refer to the technologies and practices used to evaluate student writing and learning. An important consequence of writing assessment is that the type and manner of assessment may impact writing instruction, with consequences for the character and quality of that instruction.
Hypercorrection is the higher likelihood of correcting a general knowledge error when originally certain that the information they understand is accurate as opposed to unsure of the information. The phenomenon suggests that once a general knowledge information is confidently misremembered by someone and the person learns the right version after their initial response is corrected, their likelihood of remembering this piece of information will be higher than someone who was unsure of their initial answer. It refers to the finding that when given corrective feedback, errors that are committed with high confidence are easier to correct than low confidence errors.
