Online Workshop

Giving Quality Feedback

Who will find this workshop useful?

• curriculum advisors

• primary and secondary teachers

• AtoL facilitators

You can use this workshop• to update, review and/or reflect on teacher/student

interactions in the classroom

• as a focus for classroom interactions with students

• to support in-depth AtoL programmes in schools.

In this workshop you will:

• explore how quality feedback can improve learning

• clarify the purpose and value of quality feedback to learners

• identify strategies that improve the quality of feedback to learners through a combination of readings and activities that you can do on your own or with colleagues.

Quality feedback should…

• focus on the learning intention of the task

• occur as the students are doing the learning

• provide information on how and why the student

understands and misunderstands

• provide strategies to help the student to improve

• assist the student to understand the goals of the

learning.

Tunstall and Gipps (1996)

In 1996 Pat Tunstall and Caroline Gipps developed a typology of teacher feedback by recording and classifying the feedback given by teachers to the students. They classified feedback as either:

evaluative – involving a value judgmentordescriptive – describing what the student said or did.

Evaluative feedbackEvaluative feedback:• involves a judgment by the teacher based on implicit or

explicit norms.

• promotes self-management and independence.

Most teacher feedback interactions observed were at the evaluative end of the continuum.

Examples of evaluative feedback:“That’s a good essay.” “You’ve done well.”

Descriptive feedback

Descriptive feedback:• is task- and outcome-oriented.

• focuses on identified learning outcomes and makes specific reference to the student’s achievement.

An example of descriptive feedback:“That’s a good essay because you have covered the

main points we discussed at the beginning. Now … which points do you think you could expand on?”

Typology of teacher feedback

Click here to see the Typology of teacher feedback (Tunstall & Gipps, 1996).

Click here to complete a typology activity.

The typology and activity are designed to make you familiar with the language of evaluative and descriptive feedback so you can use it to help students improve their learning.

FeedbackLook at the sample of student work from the English exemplar, ‘Table Manners’ (level 2).

Think about:

• what feedback you would give to the student

• what feed forward (next steps) you would suggest to the student

• what curriculum level you would place this work at.

• Look up the exemplar Table Manners in your New Zealand Curriculum Exemplars folder.

• You will find it under: Written Language, Poetic Writing: Personal Experience, level 2.

• Have a look at the features of curriculum level 2 and the feedback the teacher gave to the student.

• Look at the suggestions in ‘Where to next’ for assisting students to take the next learning steps.

• How do these relate to the type of feedback from the Tunstall and Gipps typology?

The New Zealand Curriculum Exemplars

Hawk and Hill (2001)

The feedback teachers give needs to be of a high quality.

When feedback is given in writing, some students:

• have difficulty understanding the points the teacher is trying to make

• are unable read the teacher’s writing

• can’t process the feedback and understand what to do next.

Asking a student to tell you what they think you are trying to say to them is the best way to check this out.

Wiliam (1999)

Findings from Ruth Butler’s research on 132 year 7 students:

• Students given only marks made no gain from the first to the second lesson.

• Students given only comments scored on average 30% higher.

• Giving marks alongside comments cancelled the beneficial effects of the comments.

Research conclusion: If you are going to grade or mark a piece of work, you are wasting your time writing careful diagnostic comments.

Clarke (2003) prompts• Reminder prompt:

“How could you make this story flow better?”

• Scaffolded prompts:A sentence given with missing words.A specific focusing directive or an open ended question.

• Example prompts:“What did he look like? … it would make your story more interesting…”“How did it make you feel? ... happy? … sad?...

Sutton (1998)

Sutton suggests effective feedback should:• be specific – both positive and critical• be descriptive, rather than evaluative• be offered as soon as possible after the event• offer alternatives or ask the learner to do so• look forward to the specific next steps to improve

performance• encourage and plan for opportunities for the feedback to

be used as soon as possible• involve the learner wherever possible, to improve the

chance of feedback being understood and acted upon.

If you want to know more about what other key researchers say?

Click here to find other notable quotes on TKI’s formative assessment page.

Notable quotes on formative feedback

Feedback… in summary

Quality feedback to learners:

• focuses on the learning intention of the task

• occurs as the students are doing the learning

• provides information on how and why the student

understands and misunderstands

• provides strategies to help the student to improve

• assists the student to understand the goals of the

learning.

Feedback in your school

List the ways in which teachers in your school provide feedback to students about their learning.

Which of them actually help students improve their learning?

Which of them are evaluative and which are descriptive? (Tunstall & Gipps article)

What sorts of goals and expectations are appropriate to share with students?

Assessment references

Clarke, S. (2001). Unlocking formative assessment: Practical strategies for enhancing pupils’ learning in the primary classroom. London: Hodder and Stoughton.

Clarke, S. (2003). Enriching Feedback in the primary classroom. London: Hodder and Stoughton.

Hawk, K. & Hill, J. (2001) The Challenge of Formative Assessment in Secondary Classrooms SPANZ Journal, September 2001.

Tunstall, P., & Gipps, C. (1996). Teacher feedback to young children in formative assessment: A typology. British Educational Research Journal, 22 (4).

Sutton, R. (1998). School-wide Assessment. Improving Teaching and Learning. New Zealand Council for educational Research. Wellington NZ.

Wiliam, D. (1999). Formative Assessment in Mathematics. The Mathematical Association. Equals. Summer Volume 5, Number 2.