Feedback

Specific, constructive feedback about learning, as it is occurring, is one of the most powerful influences on student achievement. Positive feedback that celebrates their successes can help to keep students motivated and increase their confidence. Constructive feedback can highlight the things that are important to focus on and provide scaffolding towards the next learning steps.

Evaluative feedback and descriptive feedback

Tunstall and Gipps (1996) identify two main types of feedback:

• evaluative feedback
  
• descriptive feedback
  

Evaluative feedback is used mostly either to motivate students or to discourage them from doing work that is not acceptable to the teacher. It does not specifically describe the work itself. Evaluative feedback may take the form of:

• a reward – "The teacher gave me a star".
  
• punishment – "I had to write it out again".
  
• approval – "The teacher said it was well done".
  
• disapproval – "The teacher said this work was not good enough!"

Descriptive feedback gives students information about their achievement in relation to criteria, and it looks towards improvement. Descriptive feedback:

• tells a student what they have or have not achieved – "You've found three words that mean happy".
  
• tells a student that they are right or wrong, and why – "You've written speckled like a freckly face; that's a great simile to describe the tops of leaves".
  
• specifies or implies a better way of doing something – by demonstrating or saying "Why don't you try that again?"
  
• encourages a student to suggest ways that they can improve – " What would make this better?"

Reflection

Either have another teacher observe you or choose a period of time and monitor your own feedback patterns.

Tally	Example of comment/response
	General praise
||	Specific to task (what students have or have not achieved)
|||	Next steps (suggesting ways to improve or a better way of doing something)

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