SEDA GÖKTAŞ

2013177057

ASSIGNMENT:Feedback in Language Learning  and Teaching

Feedback is an essential part of language learning and teaching that influences students’ learning and achievement. Feedback helps both the teachers and their students meet the goals and instructional means in learning and teaching. In this review, feedback for motivation and for language correction is discussed on theoretical and practical grounds. Concepts of feedback and reviews of evidence associated with types of feedback as well as their positive and negative impacts are discussed in this paper. Furthermore, the reviews of supporting research evidence address how different types of feedback yield different levels of effectiveness in language learning. Keywords: feedback, motivation, correction, second language learning

Feedback is a vital concept in most theories of learning and is closely related to motivation. Behavioral theories tend to focus on extrinsic motivation such as rewards . In language learning and teaching, varying types of feedback can be provided to students.

 As in other disciplines, feedback that motivates students’ language learning should receive particular attention. On practical grounds, feedback for motivation and language correction are a key concern for language educators. Feedback can be defined from various perspectives.

 Feedback can be defined as “information provided by an agent with respect to one’s performance or understanding” . However, feedback also encompasses the consequences of performance.

A teacher or parent can provide corrective information, a peer can provide an alternative strategy, a book can provide information to clarify ideas, a parent can provide encouragement, and a learner can look up the answer to evaluate the correctness of a response.

  In teaching schemes, feedback should provide information specifically relating to the learning process so as to assist learners in understanding what they are learning and what they have just learned.

“Feedback is information with which a learner can confirm, add to, overwrite, tune, or restructure information in memory, whether that information is domain knowledge, meta-cognitive knowledge, beliefs about self and tasks, or cognitive tactics and strategies” .

 Some researchers postulate that feedback in learning and teaching is beneficial for learners. Feedback affects the learners’ motivation in many different ways.

Learners can receive feedback both in the form of rewards such as stickers and awards as contingencies to activities.

 With respect to learning theories, behavioral theory tends to focus on extrinsic motivation such as feedback and rewards .

 Receiving a reward or feedback for an action usually increases the likelihood that the action will be repeated. Feedback can help shape students’ learning and performance. Learners who succeed at a task and continue to work hard are likely to expect future success and be motivated to expand their effort.

 Contrary to a behaviorists’ argument, feedback can potentially also have a negative effect on learning. Learners who do not work hard and perform poorly on a task may not benefit from feedback . By understanding the effects of feedback on students’ language learning, the theoretical aspects and related research studies are discussed.

Types of Feedback!

The different types of feedback listed below would be appropriate at various times depending on the intended goal.   

Types of Feedback

Effective

• Goal is to get student to internalize the effective feedback to use the suggested strategies independently on future work.
• Feedback that is intended to be used by the learner to independently move their reasoning to the next level.

• Criteria-based phrases are used to describe the strengths and weaknesses of the learner’s work.
• Limits feedback to one or two traits/aspect of quality at a time.
• Students should have an opportunity to “redo” their work based on the effective feedback.
• “I agree with the pattern that you have identified in the table.  I am not convinced that the rule you wrote works for all the values in the table.  How could you prove this?”

Descriptive

• Goal is to improve student achievement by telling the learner how to move forward in the learning process. 
• Feedback that is intended to tell the learner what needs to be improved.
• Feedback isn’t as effective in getting students to move forward in the learning process.
• “You accurately found the number of students in 4^th grade who said chocolate ice-cream was their favorite.  You now need to divide this number by the total number of students to get the percent who said chocolate ice-cream was their favorite.”

Evaluative

• Goal is to measure student achievement with a score or a grade.
• Feedback that is intended to summarize student achievement. 
• It does not give guidance on how to improve the learner’s reasoning. 
• Since it is not intended to move students forward in the learning process, it can be given on summative assessments.
• “Your explanation of your work is the best that you have done.  Nice use of sequence words in your explanation.”

Motivational

• Goal is to make the learner feel good.
• Feedback that is intended to encourage and support the learner. 
• It does not give guidance on how to improve the learner’s reasoning. 
• Since it is not intended to move students forward in the learning process, it can be given on summative assessments.
• “I like how you completed the assignment.”

 

Characteristics of effective feedback: Begin by discussing the learner’s assessment of performance: Obtaining the learners assessment of their performance in accomplishing the relevant goals can help guide the content of feedback given Well timed and expected: It is most effective when given as soon as possible after the behavior, depending upon the receiver's readiness to hear comments on performance. If the behavior is distant from the feedback, the receiver is more likely to discount the feedback as inaccurate. If immediate, denial is more difficult.

 Descriptive: Feedback should describe the behavior in clear terms and should reflect specific, concrete examples of positive or negative behaviors. "When the patient was discussing her fears about death you quickly moved to another question without stopping to explore her feelings or concerns" is more effective than presenting an interpretation such as "you are afraid to talk about death aren't you?" or a generalization such as “you interrupted the patient all the time.” Positive feedback should be descriptive as well. “Your use of silence when she was crying allowed her to gather her feelings and express her frustrations.” Focus on reporting accurately what was observed in behavioral terms and avoid interrupting or making assumptions about intent.

Changeable behavior: Focus on specific action and behavior instead of personality. “Using a transition statement when shifting between topics is helpful” as opposed to “you seemed awkward when changing topics.” In addition, avoid labeling behaviors as "good" or "bad," "right" or "wrong."

Limit the amount of feedback: Comment on one or two important items rather than two major items and four minor items. The feedback will be more effective if the learner can focus on a few specific areas for improvement.

Order the content of feedback: When giving both supportive and constructive feedback, it is important to start by giving some of the supportive feedback initially, followed by the constructive feedback. This helps to minimize defensiveness and makes it easier for the learner to hear the constructive feedback.

Beneficial to receiver - Feedback should help the learner explore ways in which improve his or her performance. Leaving the session with a plan for improvement is often beneficial

Bad Feedback	Good Feedback	Helpful Hints
Demotivates, focuses on blame; creates defensiveness and confrontation	Encourages, focuses onimprovements – achieved or possible; creates trust and cooperation	Create a contract to discuss issues; use motivational coaching techniques Acknowledge player's feelings and needs Don't emphasize the fault; suggest a remedy → Failure as a Stepping Stone To Success → 4 WHYs of True Success → 4 NLP Perceptual Positions
Problem-oriented; does not improve skill	Solution-oriented; improves skills	Focus on problem' not the 'person'; uncover root problems Jointly paint the picture of desired skill Jointly develop practical steps → Problem Solving Strategies: 4 Levels → Creative Problem Solving: Switching Perceptions → Solving People Problems → Turn Problems to Opportunities: 6 Tips
Undermines confidence and self-esteem	Increases confidence inability and potential	·       Joint create positive – as opposed to negative – goals. Positive pleasure-oriented goals are much more powerful motivators than negative fear-based ones. ·       Balance negatives and positives – the right combination of both is the most powerful motivating mix. ·       Teach the coaches the rules of self-motivation
Leaves person guessing	Clarifies the current position and what to do next	Verify with effective questions; ask for player's recap Joint develop an action  plan
Leaves person feeling 'judged'	Leaves person feeling 'helped' and inspired	Use the Action – Impact – Desired Outcome (AID) model Invite the player to assess own performance first; guide him/her by asking effective questions Offer support for future

FEEDBACK:

Lots of  information were already written above.What more  to say!But still;if you ask me,I would say to you that the most useful and practical feedback type for me was the motivational one because every single feedback which is given in a non-defensive environment will already very beneficial in the learning-teaching process.So I totally  agree with Krashen’s/Terrell’s ‘Affective Filter Hypotheses’ and pay much more attention to how learners  feel.If you create a homeostasis in the classroom about what will be learnt,what sts want to learn ,and how much you taught/you reached the objectives and make them feel good,you will be able to make them  do whatever you want.I mean creating a mutual trust environment is much more important and vital for me.I think I must have a warm and trustworthy attitude towards them,on good terms.If I support them to do things and teach them how to learn ,we may help each other out in the teaching-learning process.Furthermore,we may get rid of our ego and go beyond ourselves.So we can receive and give constructive feedback because we have already overcome the psychological barriers which are obstacles to learning.All in all everything’s up to you,your mind ,and communicative competences/skills.