Students’ Perceptions of Their Reflective Essay Writing Experience and Teacher Feedback Comments

Sharif, Asiah Mohd; Zainuddin, Siti Zaidah

doi:10.17509/ijal.v6i2.4845

“…Reflection is a metacognitive process in which a person is engaged in attentive, critical, exploratory and iterative interactions with his thoughts and actions to change them, hence it is powerful equipment of experiential learning (Fragkos, 2016;Larsen, London and Emke, 2016;Asiah Mohd Sharif, 2017). Attention to self and critical reflection on the situation are two necessary elements for continued competence (Sanders, 2015;Fragkos, 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Benefits of Reflective Writing in Health Care through the Vivid Lens of House Officers

Aziz¹,

Mahboob²,

Saleem³

2020

MedEdPublish

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Introduction: Reflective writing, a complex human activity is one of the innovative pedagogies to promote deep learning among medical students and doctors. Despite its potential to facilitate learning, there is limited literature on evaluation of various purposes of reflective writing in medical education. Hence, aim of this study is to develop an instrument and evaluate the perceptions of house officers about benefits of reflective writing. Methods: Mixed method study followed AMEE 87 guidelines for questionnaire development. The study was carried out from Oct 2018-Feb 2019 in a dental college in Islamabad. A 30-items questionnaire was developed by following these steps: (1) conduction of literature review, (2) item development, (3) conduction of cognitive interviews and (4) pilot testing. Coding and interpretation of transcribed data and notes taken during cognitive interviews was done to finalize three main themes (learning, self-regulation and alteration in clinical behavior) identified in literature review. In pilot testing, participants were asked to rate the purposes of reflective writing on a three-point Likert scale (Agree, do not know and disagree). Data was analyzed using SPSS version 22. Results: All of nineteen house officers (n= 3 for cognitive interviews, n= 16 for pilot testing) had previous experience of writing reflections using Gibb's reflective cycle. Thirteen (81%) out of sixteen house officers agreed that reflective writing improves learning, helps in self-regulation and alters clinical behavior, two (13%) did not know about the three themes that were finalized in cognitive interviews and one (6%) did not agree. Discussion and Conclusion: Reflective writing improves learning, helps in self-regulation and alters clinical behavior in the selected house officers. This study may inspire medical education experts to include reflective writing as a part of formal undergraduate medical and dental curriculum to enhance student's learning experience.

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“…Second, students believe that they can distinguish their strengths and weaknesses in writing to improve their performance. Sharif and Zainuddin (2017) investigated ESL medical students' perceptions of teachers' feedback on their reflective essays in Malaysia. The findings showed that the students had good experiences with teacher feedback after a 12-week period.…”

Section: Students' Perceptions Of Teacher Feedbackmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Therefore, teachers should consider their students' differences in the writing process. Sharif and Zainuddin (2017) investigated ESL medical students' perceptions of teachers' feedback on their reflective essays. This case study used qualitative analysis of questionnaire and semi-structured interviews were conducted on 19 students in Malaysia.…”

Section: A Mismatch Between Students' and Teachers' Beliefsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It may be useful if teachers can ask students to write short self-reflection essays to identify their strengths and weaknesses, following by teachers' feedback and suggestions. Besides, teachers should be aware that individual students can react to negative feedback differently (Caffarella & Barnet, 2000;Sharif & Zainuddin, 2017). Therefore, teachers should give positive comments before critical ones.…”

Section: Students' Confidence and Teacher Feedbackmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Written Feedback In Second Language Writing: Perceptions Of Vietnamese Teachers And Students

Nguyen¹

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<p>Writing can be very challenging for ESL students since they need to overcome the changes associated with academic writing styles and their mechanics in order to improve their writing skills (Hyland & Hyland, 2006). In Vietnam, English is known as a foreign language in all public and private schools, and writing is a compulsory component. It is unavoidable that students will make errors in their writing development process, and feedback is a fundamental requirement to reduce these errors. Even if giving feedback costs a great deal of time, it can be the most significant investment of writing instructors (Ferris, 2002). In the last 20 years, many studies have examined a wide range of issues in academic writing, including the types of feedback, and stakeholders’ perceptions about feedback; however, the results have been contradictory. Mahmud (2016) revealed that teachers are often forced to use their own writing experience and intuitive criteria due to the lack of information on how to give feedback. Nevertheless, researchers tend to focus on either students’ or teachers’ perceptions, or both teachers’ and students’ perceptions, about different types of feedback in writing (Atmaca, 2016). In Vietnam, there are few studies about students’ and teachers’ perceptions of written feedback. This study investigated the views of both Vietnamese students and teachers on peer feedback, direct feedback, indirect coded feedback, indirect un-coded feedback, and self-feedback to fulfil the gap. Thirty-six university students in Finance and Banking and two senior English teachers participated in this study. Due to the unexpected pandemic, the researcher changed the study from in-class to online. This qualitative research employs questionnaires and interviews. The pre-questionnaire in class before the outbreak of coronavirus in Vietnam, but the rest of the questionnaire surveys and interviews were collected online because the school had shut down. The students were grouped into two separate online groups on Facebook with their classmates, and they were asked to complete five surveys about five different types of feedback. The findings revealed some similarities between teachers’ and students’ perceptions of feedback in L2 writing. In terms of similarities, both teachers and students agreed that feedback played an important role in L2 writing learning and teaching. Teachers and students believed that feedback could affect L2 learners’ cognitive engagement in writing and some types of feedback could affect learners’ psychology. Moreover, training was necessary to improve peer feedback in both quality and quantity of feedback and to help students use this type of feedback more effectively. The results from teachers’ interviews and students’ surveys also revealed the discrepancies between teachers’ and students’ perceptions of feedback in L2 writing. This study concludes that using appropriate types of teacher feedback can boost students’ confidence to improve their writing skills in the long term.</p>

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“…First, there is a belief that using appropriate types of teacher feedback can boost students' confidence to improve their writing skills in the long term. Sharif and Zainuddin (2017) found that students gained more confidence in writing after receiving teacher feedback. It is also in line with Nordin et al (2010) who found that sixty-nine engineering undergraduates from Malaysia felt more confident in their writing because they were able to avoid the same mistakes and revise them more accurately.…”

Section: Chapter 1: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Written Feedback In Second Language Writing: Perceptions Of Vietnamese Teachers And Students

Nguyen¹

0

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<p>Writing can be very challenging for ESL students since they need to overcome the changes associated with academic writing styles and their mechanics in order to improve their writing skills (Hyland & Hyland, 2006). In Vietnam, English is known as a foreign language in all public and private schools, and writing is a compulsory component. It is unavoidable that students will make errors in their writing development process, and feedback is a fundamental requirement to reduce these errors. Even if giving feedback costs a great deal of time, it can be the most significant investment of writing instructors (Ferris, 2002). In the last 20 years, many studies have examined a wide range of issues in academic writing, including the types of feedback, and stakeholders’ perceptions about feedback; however, the results have been contradictory. Mahmud (2016) revealed that teachers are often forced to use their own writing experience and intuitive criteria due to the lack of information on how to give feedback. Nevertheless, researchers tend to focus on either students’ or teachers’ perceptions, or both teachers’ and students’ perceptions, about different types of feedback in writing (Atmaca, 2016). In Vietnam, there are few studies about students’ and teachers’ perceptions of written feedback. This study investigated the views of both Vietnamese students and teachers on peer feedback, direct feedback, indirect coded feedback, indirect un-coded feedback, and self-feedback to fulfil the gap. Thirty-six university students in Finance and Banking and two senior English teachers participated in this study. Due to the unexpected pandemic, the researcher changed the study from in-class to online. This qualitative research employs questionnaires and interviews. The pre-questionnaire in class before the outbreak of coronavirus in Vietnam, but the rest of the questionnaire surveys and interviews were collected online because the school had shut down. The students were grouped into two separate online groups on Facebook with their classmates, and they were asked to complete five surveys about five different types of feedback. The findings revealed some similarities between teachers’ and students’ perceptions of feedback in L2 writing. In terms of similarities, both teachers and students agreed that feedback played an important role in L2 writing learning and teaching. Teachers and students believed that feedback could affect L2 learners’ cognitive engagement in writing and some types of feedback could affect learners’ psychology. Moreover, training was necessary to improve peer feedback in both quality and quantity of feedback and to help students use this type of feedback more effectively. The results from teachers’ interviews and students’ surveys also revealed the discrepancies between teachers’ and students’ perceptions of feedback in L2 writing. This study concludes that using appropriate types of teacher feedback can boost students’ confidence to improve their writing skills in the long term.</p>

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Students’ Perceptions of Their Reflective Essay Writing Experience and Teacher Feedback Comments

Cited by 10 publications

References 43 publications

Benefits of Reflective Writing in Health Care through the Vivid Lens of House Officers

Benefits of Reflective Writing in Health Care through the Vivid Lens of House Officers

Written Feedback In Second Language Writing: Perceptions Of Vietnamese Teachers And Students

Written Feedback In Second Language Writing: Perceptions Of Vietnamese Teachers And Students

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