Abstract:
Feedback can be defined within the educational context as information provided to an individual based on their performance or understanding, and is fundamental to learning. Usually this feedback is provided by the teacher, and at its highest level is considered vital for bridging the gap between understanding and task mastery; however, the effectiveness of classroom feedback can vary significantly, with not all teacher feedback beneficial to student learning. In fact, strong emotional responses may be connected to the ways students perceive and respond to feedback, with the individual nature of how students respond individually to feedback not understood. As much previous research investigating the impact of feedback has been conducted from the researcher and teacher perspectives, this paper offers a complementary view by giving students opportunities to voice their responses. In providing their perspective, 103 student participants from years 10 – 12 were presented with a range of feedback samples and asked to record: what they thought teachers were communicating in their feedback; how this information would shape their future performance on task; and, how effective this feedback was through their own eyes as learners. Following on from this, interviews were conducted with a small number of these participants, with themes identified in the first study discussed and elaborated on. Overall, data analyses from these studies generally support previous findings that different levels of feedback are more effective than others in communicating information and stimulating growth; and, that high impact feedback relating to self-regulation questioning influences future cognitive processes. However, the contribution of this study lies in its exploration of students’ emotional responses to feedback and, in relation to this inquiry a range of insights emerged from the data. These included: the importance of praise to stimulate motivation and learner confidence; that students tend to construct their own meaning when presented with feedback; and, that the context in which the feedback is delivered shapes students’ responses. This paper presentation will first discuss the major findings in detail and then consider classroom implications, before presenting a model that represents the student’s emotional and behavioral responses to teacher feedback.