MOTIVATING STUDENTS: POSITIVE FEEDBACK VS. NEGATIVE FEEDBACK

POSITIVE FEEDBACK IS WHEN A SYSTEM TENDS TO INCREASE OUTPUT.

NEGATIVE FEEDBACK IS WHEN A SYSTEM TENDS TO REDUCE OUTPUT OR THE PRODUCT TO PREVENT THE REACTION FROM CONTINUING

Ideal Feedback Model

INPUT OUTPUT

Young students will often look up to instructors as experts in the field and take to heart most of the things instructors say. Sometimes the term "feedback" is used loosely or carelessly to refer to what is more accurately called reinforcement.

Types of Student Assessment Confirmation-- Your answer was incorrect.

Corrective-- Your answer was incorrect. The correct answer was Jefferson

Explanatory--Your answer was incorrect because Carter was from Georgia; only Jefferson called Virginia home.

Diagnostic-- Your answer was incorrect-- Your choice of Carter suggests some extra instruction on the home states of past presidents might be helpful.

Elaborative-- Your answer Jefferson, was correct. The University of Virginia, a campus rich with Jeffersonian architecture and writings, is sometimes referred to as Thomas Jefferson’s school.

Positive feedback was more accepted than the negative feedback; females as compared to males evidenced less desire for further feedback after receiving negative feedback, while the reverse was true after receiving positive feedback.

Consistently, researchers have found that when teachers effectively employ feedback procedures, they positively and often powerfully impact the achievement of their students.

This relationship is consistent regardless of grade, socioeconomic status, race, or school setting….When feedback and corrective procedures are used, most students can attain the same level of achievement as the top 20% of students.” 

In fact, Bellon, Bellon, and Blank note, “Academic feedback is more strongly and consistently related to achievement than any other teaching behavior….

SO, IF EFFECTIVE FEEDBACK IS SO POWERFUL, WHAT EXACTLY ARE ITS COMPONENTS? BLACK AND WILLIAM CITE THREE ESSENTIALELEMENTS OF WHAT THEY TERM ENHANCED FEEDBACK:

I.• recognition of the

desired goal

II.• evidence about present

position

III.

• some understanding of a way to close the gap between the two

Wiggins (1997), agrees that it is only through a cycle of feedback that excellence occurs and students must have:

* routine access to the criteria and standards for the task

* feedback in their attempts to master those tasks

* opportunities to use the feedback

Excellence is attained by such cycles of model-practice-perform-feedback-perform.”

We now have a understanding of the need for feedback. What are the actual results of feedback when given in a positive form?

Students Learning

Data

Factors affecting student motivation:

Subject MatterUsefulness to themdesire to achieveself-confidenceSelf-esteem

Patience/PersistenceMotivation

Many factors affect a student’s motivation to work or to learn a subject matter. Some of your students will be motivated by the approval of others, some by the challenges in and of themselves. Whatever level of motivation your students bring to the

classroom will be transformed, for better or worse, by what happens in that classroom.

To encourage students to become self-motivated independent learners, instructors can do the following:

Give frequent, early, positive feedback that supports students' beliefs that they can do well.

Ensure opportunities for students' success by assigning tasks that

are neither too easy nor too difficult.

Help students find personal meaning and value in the material.

Create an atmosphere that is open and positive.

Help students feel that they are valued members of a learning community.

SIX STEPS TO POSITIVE FEEDBACK

No Demeaning Comments

Show Peers good work

Reward

Quickly

Be specifi

c!

Give Feedback Quick

Do NOT Give the

answers!

Give students feedback as quickly as possible.

Return tests and papers promptly, and reward success immediately. Give students some indication of how well they have done and

how to improve.

Reward success.

Both positive and negative comments influence motivation, but research consistently indicates that students are more affected by positive

feedback and success.

Praise builds students' self-confidence, competence, and self-esteem. Recognize sincere efforts even if the product is not as good as others. If a student's performance is weak, let the student know that you believe he or she can improve and succeed over time. (Sources: Cashin, 1979; Lucas, 1990)

Introduce students to the good work done by their

peers.

Share the ideas, knowledge, and accomplishments of individual students with the class as a

whole.

Pass out a list of research topics chosen by students so they will know whether others are writing papers of interest to them and if their standards match others.

Be specific when giving negative feedback.

Whenever you identify a student's weakness, make it clear that your comments relate to a particular task or performance, not to the

student as a person.

Negative feedback is very powerful and can lead to a negative class atmosphere. “Try to cushion negative comments with a compliment about aspects of the task in which the student succeeded” (Cashin, 1979).

Avoid demeaning comments.

Many students in your class may be anxious about their performance and abilities. Be sensitive to how you phrase your comments and avoid offhand remarks that might bring forth their feelings of

inadequacy or low self-esteem.

Avoid giving in to students' pleas for "the

answer" to homework problems.

When you simply give struggling students the solution, you rob them of the chance to think

for themselves.

Use a more productive approach (adapted from Fiore, 1985): Ask the students for one possible approach to the problem. Gently brush aside students’ anxiety about not getting the answer by refocusing their attention on the problem at hand. Ask the students to build on what they do know about the problem.

How do you give students POSITIVE feedback?

According to Singh (2006), positive feedback needs to be:

Clear: Don't beat about the bush. If you think it was 'great‘ or 'excellent‘ then say so. Have the courage of your convictions. (Don't worry about using clichés!)

Specific: Words like 'great' or 'excellent' carry a strong emotional message, but when the emotional buzz fades, the intellectual hunger remains. As suggested above, say what, exactly what, was good and say why it was good.

Personal: That is, make the person you're giving feedback to feel acknowledged as an individual. This will get easier as you get to know your students. Using their name in the feedback helps: "Emma, I thought they way you handled this was both valid and original. I particularly liked the way you ....."

Honest: As well as truthful, honest good news clearly distinguishes between fact and judgment. Be clear what the nature of your good news is.

How do you give students NEGATIVE feedback?

Negative feedback, when given in a constructive way, has the greatest impact on changing behavior and improving performance.

Think of the language you are using - use questions initially rather than accusations.

For example: "how do you think reacting like that appeared to the client? Rather than "that was unprofessional behavior“

Offer support and challenge.

There are two dimensions to feedback: support and challenge. The most constructive feedback is high on support and high on challenge.

Students also need to know what they've done wrong, or poorly which in some other way is inappropriate. And, immediately and always, they need to know in what respects it was wrong or poor or inappropriate, and they need suggestions on ways in which it could have been correct or better. When you come up with a problem, you need to help direct the student to an answer for the problem when giving negative feedback.

How do you give students NEGATIVE feedback? (Continued)

Explore alternatives.

Note how the feedback is received.

Anticipate an emotional response.

Make time for the feedback and consider when is a good time to give feedback. Ensure privacy, be supportive but don't get distracted from your aims.

End on a positive note.

Positive feedback improves confidence, it feels good and increases motivation. It may help the receiver to have the confidence to deal with the more negative aspects of their performance.

Always end with a positive note of encouragement. Round off your feedback with a high note and encouragement. Say whatever you can that's encouraging and truthful.

Bibliography

American Psychological Association. Learner-Centered Psychological Principles: Guidelines for School Redesign and Reform. Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association, 1992.

Ames, R., and Ames, C. "Motivation and Effective Teaching." In B. F. Jones and L. Idol (eds.), Dimensions of Thinking and Cognitive Instruction. Hillsdale, N. J.: ErIbaum, 1990.

Angelo, T. A. "Ten Easy Pieces: Assessing Higher Learning in Four Dimensions." In T. A. Angelo (ed.), Classroom Research: Early Lessons from Success. New Directions for Teaching and Learning, no. 46. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1991.

Atkins, M. (1995) What should we be assessing? In: P. Knight (Ed.) Assessment for learning inhigher education (London, Kogan Page).

Bellon, Jerry, Bellon, Elner, and Blank, Mary Ann. Teaching from a Research Knowledge Base: A Development and Renewal Process. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1992. (pp. 277-278)

Bligh, D. A. What's the Use of Lecturing? Devon, England: Teaching Services Centre, University of Exeter, 1971.

Biggs, J. (1999) Teaching for quality learning at university (Buckingham, Open University Press).

Brown, G., Bull, J. & Pendlebury, M. (1997) Assessing student learning in higher education (London,Routledge).

Boud, D. (1995) Assessment and learning: contradictory or complementary? In: P. Knight (Ed.)Assessment for learning in higher education (London, Kogan Page).

Cashin, W. E. "Motivating Students." Idea Paper, no. 1. Manhattan: Center for Faculty Evaluation and Development in Higher Education, Kansas State University, 1979.

Bibliography continued:

Hounsell, D. (1987) Essay writing and the quality of feedback, in: J. Richardson, M. Eysenck & D. Piper (Eds) Student learning: research in education and cognitive psychology (Milton Keynes,Open University Press).

Mutch, A. (2003) Exploring the practice of feedback to students, Active Learning in Higher Education, 4(1), 24–38.

Snyder, C. R.; Cowles, Chris, Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. Vol 47(1), Feb 1979, 207-209.

Wiggins, Grant. Educative Assessment: Designing Assessments to Inform and Improve Student Performance. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Inc., 1998. (p. 64)

Wiggins, Grant. “Feedback: How Learning Occurs, A Presentation from the 1997 AAHE Conference on Assessment & Quality.” Pennington, NJ: The Center on Learning, Assessment, and School Structure, 1997.

Wojtas, O. (1998, September 25) Feedback? No, just give us the answers, Times Higher Education Supplement.

Young, P. (2000) ‘I might as well give up’: self-esteem and mature students’ feelings aboutfeedback on assignments, Journal of Further and Higher Education, 24(3), 409–418.