Teachers’ Perceptions and Practices of Written Feedback in Higher Education

Abstract

This mixed-methods research aimed to understand the practices and perceptions of teachers regarding written feedback. For this purpose, a survey was administered to 150 teachers forming a non-probability sample, who were working in various universities in Karachi. The disciplines chosen for the study included nursing, applied linguistics, medicine and education departments in institutes of higher education situated in Karachi. Before sampling, initial screening was done to obtain a list of institutes which provide written feedback on students' assignments. Two homogenous groups of teachers by discipline (nursing and education) were then selected for focus group discussions. It was found that most teachers consider written feedback an important tool for guiding and helping students improve their work. In fact, they consider written feedback as important as verbal feedback. Teachers also recognized the importance of discussing the written feedback with the students but they rarely did so because of time constraints. Most teachers preferred to directly fix students' errors instead of providing feedback to enable them to correct those errors by themselves. While less than half of the participants used a checklist for grading, others used annotation. Several factors were found to have a great influence on the amount and quality of feedback. The most significant factor was whether teachers had formal training in providing feedback. Only 17% of the participants in this study had proper training to give written feedback. They also identified several environmental and personal factors that had an impact on their feedback practices including time, the relationship between the teacher and individual students, and, most importantly, the policies and culture of the institutes.

EFL Supervisors’ Written Feedback Focus and Language Functions on Masters Degree Students Thesis

“…The results obtained from both on-script feedback comments and interviews disclosed that the supervisors generally used the directive feedback language most dominantly in their feedback provision as compared to expressive feedback. This nding is consonant with previous works in which directive feedback has been found pervasiveness in the provision of feedback (Gul et al, 2016;Leng, 2014;Lucero, Fernández & Montanero, 2018;Yenus, 2018). Conversely, the study done by Kumar and Stracke (2007) showed that the directive and expressive feedback functions shared equal status in the feedback provision of the supervisors.…”

“…Concerning language functions of written feedback, a couple of studies showed the prevalence of direct feedback provision on students' errors (Gul et al, 2016;Lucero, Fernández & Montanero, 2018). Besides, Yenus (2018) carried a study on language functions of supervisors' written feedback to students' thesis at Bahir Dar University, Ethiopia.…”

“…The nding showed written feedback on the genre of the thesis, content knowledge, and linguistic accuracy and appropriateness were frequently offered in priority, respectively. Other studies (Gul et al, 2016;Lucero, Fernández & Montanero, 2018) disclosed that teachers used to place excessive emphasis on local and super cial issues at the expense of other semantic, rhetorical or pragmatic aspects. Nevertheless, in Ghazal et al (2014) study, most feedback comments focused on the content while still, some emphasized form and style.…”

What are students' needs and preferences for academic feedback in higher education? A systematic review

“…There is also missed opportunity for learning through feedback, as evidence identifies that some academics have limited skills, and knowledge, or they perceive summative assignments as a marking task, rather than a crucial and insightful opportunity to positively influence personalised learning (Orrell, 2006). Other issues are related to embedded perceptions that students don't read their feedback because students are only focused on their grade and ignore the written feedback provided to them (Iqbal et al, 2014, Gul et al, 2016.…”

Feedback: Different Concepts and Practices in a Culturally Different Environment-Faculty Perceptions

“…Recent studies conducted in Pakistani healthcare institutions explored feedback in the form of teachers" written comments on assessments and feedback on assessments only 15,16 , whereas in our study participants" experiences showed that they got information about their performance in ways much beyond written comments or feedback on assessments only.…”