Feedback: “…they can identify their weaknesses and improve”

Rachel seemed to be aware of the importance of providing feedback. This was emphasised in her statement below:

“Of course, feedback is important for students. I think if feedback is given, both students and teacher can benefit. If feedback is given, they can identify their weaknesses and improve […] It is also important for effective teaching”. (FUI/TR/2015)

She also claimed that her role in the classroom was as a facilitator and spoke of the importance of giving feedback to the students regarding their performance. She stated:

“Teachers are supposed to be a facilitator, that is our main role during the lesson”. (PI/TR/2015)

She further indicated that feedback helped weaker pupils to identify their mistakes. While giving feedback she identified pupils who needed assistance and created time for further explanation. This was evident in what Rachel said:

“Feedback is important for effective teaching and learning and can help students identify their weaknesses”. (FUI/TR/2015)

Rachel stated her belief that feedback provided both learners and teachers with information about pupils’ level of understanding and helped her to use that information to adapt teaching and learning. In addition, she said that she used feedback to provide information about the learners’ mistakes and how to correct them:

“Usually, I give feedback after marking or while they are answering questions in class so that they know whether they are wrong or right and for them to make relevant corrections. Feedback tells them where they made mistakes. By giving feedback, we (teachers) can help assist students who are facing problems or those who need help”. (PI/TR/2015)

The data revealed that Rachel often gave oral feedback about pupils’ performance in the form of ‘evaluative feedback’ and mostly task related, simple and short. Her feedbacks were in the form of an acknowledgement of the answer, very commonly, affirming the answers, by the use of expressions such as ‘okay’ and ‘yes’. She also gave evaluative feedback like ‘good’, ‘very good’ or asking the class to clap, as illustrated in the following extract (see Turns 3 and 7 in Extract 6.6).

Extract 6.6 (CO/TR/L1/2015)

TURN EXCHANGE

1 T Okay Alia. Okay, tell the class what is in the picture.

2 Alia (reads through the notes she had written on her poster) (inaudible) 3 T Okay, very good! (claps her hands)

4 PS (clap their hands)

5 T Okay, so what did Alia said about Mount Kinabalu? 6 P A 6.3 hit earthquake hit Mount Kinabalu.

7 T Yes! She talks about the earthquake that happen in the month of June. Okay, very good Alia. Okay, you can go back to your seat. Okay, now let’s hear from Ali!

8 PS (clap their hands)

(T = Teacher; PS = Choral Response; P = Individual Response; ^ Indicates Rising Intonation) Rachel accentuated the importance of praise in building close relationships between the teacher and the pupils, increasing their self-esteem and encouraging them to learn better. She explained this was part of motivating them to learn. She acknowledged that as she always valued student effort, her feedback tended to be positive to promote learning:

“The students find it difficult to learn the language. The only way for me to motivate them is by praising them. By praising them it not only makes the teacher-students relationship close but most important it makes the students more motivated to learn”. (FUI/TR/2015)

She further added:

“…to be able to speak the language is a big achievement for them, so if we always criticize the students or don’t even praise their achievement, students will be demotivated to learn”. (FUI/TR/2015)

Another evident feedback practice in Rachel’s lesson was took the form of repeating students’ responses to affirm or accept an answer. The repetition patterns in Extract 6.7 focus on forms and contents. In this exchange, Rachel repeated the exact structure of the response given by the student. This pattern can be seen as confirming or accepting what the student said. Examples of this type of feedback can be found in Extract 6.7 in

Turns 5, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, 19, 21, and 25 below.

Extract 6.7 (CO/TR/L2/2015)

TURN EXCHANGE

1 T Yes, the caterpillar doesn’t have sound (puts down the paper) and then (picks up another paper) this one (points to picture 1 on the paper) Oh, this one is another ladybug. What about this one? (points to picture 2)

2 PS Dragonfly!

3 T Why is it called dragonfly? Is it a dragon?

4 PS No!

5 T No. So, look at the picture here (points to the dragonfly picture). Can you see the fire coming out from its mouth?

6 PS (laughed) (some answered yes, some answer no)

7 T But this is just actually an illustration because the name is^ …. (pause)

8 PS Dragonfly!

9 T Dragonfly. Because we also don’t know why is it called a dragonfly. Why is it called a dragon? Maybe, it’s because of its^…. (pause)

10 PS Body!

11 T Body. It looks like a^… (pause) 12 PS Dragon!

13 T Dragon. But does it have fire?

14 PS No!

15 T No. There is no fire coming out from the^…(pause)

16 PS Mouth!

17 T Mouth. Okay, so what colour do you think the dragonfly is?

18 PS Green!

19 T Green. And then…. what else?

(T = Teacher; PS = Choral Response; P = Individual Response; ^ Indicates Rising Intonation) Evaluative feedback can take the form of rejection or negation of pupils’ answers to

example, in Extract 6.8 below, she rejected incorrect or unacceptable answers by using expressions such as ‘no’ or ‘wrong’.

Extract 6.8 (CO/TR/L2/2015)

TURN EXCHANGE

1 T Six. Do you think ladybugs make sounds?

2 PS No!

3 T Yes or no?

4 PS No!

5 T (smiled and made her eyes bigger - indicating that the students’ answer was wrong)

6 PS Yes!

No! (some pupils shouted yes and some shouted no) 7 T Yes! It makes a sound.

(T = Teacher; PS = Choral Response; P = Individual Response; ^ Indicates Rising Intonation) In Extract 6.8 Turn 5, Rachel refused the pupil’s answers but provided clues or feedback using facial gestures in order to prompt the pupil to change their response. Her responses show that she did not engage in lengthy discussions with her pupils. She explained this was due to the language barrier in other words, students’ linguistic proficiency. Rachel also used written feedback in her assessment practice. She collected students’ work such as homework or worksheets and marked them by placing ticks and crosses and providing the total number of points or grade at the end of the piece of work.

Rachel described her experiences in giving written feedback to her students as ‘difficult’. She explained that it was difficult for her to provide accurate, detailed and fair comments that support student learning. She explained this was due to shortage of time and workload. As a result, the findings from the observed lesson revealed that Rachel’s feedback to each student or group that promoted further learning was limited. In response to overcoming the limited written feedback, Rachel noted that she preferred to

“point out problems face-to-face, especially for those pupils who did very poorly” (PTLI2/TR/L2/2015). She added that if she identified any problems with the pupils’ work,

she would “definitely let them do it again” (PTLI2/TR/L2/2015). She attributed her rationale to her view that attitude was very important. This is in-line with what has been prescribed by the assessment policy, whereby pupils should be given the opportunity to redo their assignments or tasks until they achieve the specified criteria or standards (Ministry of Education, 2012). Overall, despite stating the importance of feedback for the improvement of the pupils’ learning, Rachel provided little feedback in her two lessons.