Giving Feedback in TEFL

Dosen Pengampu : Diah Anita P. S.Pd, M.Pd

By:

RISKI INTAN PRATITIS (16188203035)

DINA DWI FERIYANTI (16188203032)

STKIP PGRI PASURUAN

Jalan Ki Hajar Dewantara Nomor 27-29 Pasuruan 67118
Definition of Giving Feedback
There seems to be little disagreement that students ought to receive correction in the
classroom. They expect it, and teachers rightly feel the need to take action when students get it
wrong.

Of course, in the real world outside the classroom, people make errors all the time and still
communicate effectively. And even though you teach English, you generally don’t interrupt
them, especially as this may come across as rude and actually put them off speaking. Taking the
person to one side afterwards and pointing out an error, is more polite but maybe a little picky.
After all, the moment has passed. And in any case, it does no harm to let some things slide –
you don’t need to be a staunch defender of the Queen’s English on all occasions.

But the classroom isn’t the real world. It’s a safe environment where your students can try
language out. And as the teacher, you’re no ordinary listener; you’re paid to point students in
the right direction.

102 Part II: Putting Your Lesson Together

That being said, the issues for TEFL teachers when it comes to correction, boil down to these:

✓ Striking the right balance between accuracy and fluency.

✓ When to correct: immediately or later?

✓ The particular errors to correct.

✓ The techniques you use for giving correction.

The guidelines for dealing with the first three points all boil down to a set of definitive rules:

✓ Accuracy and fluency: These should combine to make for good communication. If lack of
accuracy hinders communication, the speaker doesn’t achieve anything by carrying on.

✓ Good communication: When this takes place, correction can usually wait. When
communication is poor or non-existent, step in more quickly.

✓ Correcting errors: Errors related to the topic of the lesson and which stop
communication should receive the most attention.

I talk about correction techniques later in the chapter.

What is giving feedback?
 Giving feedback means that the teacher, peer-student or expert gives feedback on
students’ work, participation, learning tasks, activities.

 Is any response from a teacher in regard to a student’s performance or behavior

 Can be verbal, written or gestural.

 Is purposefully used to improve a student’s performance definitely not put a damper on

it.

 Is to provide students with an “I can do this” attitude.

The things influencing the way of giving feedback:

 The assignment

The assignment influencing the way of giving feedback. For example when
students have a task from the teacher and students make a mistake to do it. So, the
answer is wrong. From that situation, we as a teacher can use the one kind of our way to
give feedback to our students. Different mistake the student’s had, it directly has a
different way of giving feedback from us as a teacher.

 The available tools

Marking with correction codes is also a kind of the available tools that we can
adapt it to our giving correction to our students. If we want marking with correction
codes, there are also so many kind of that codes. Each codes influencing our way of
giving feedback.

 The resources

The resources also influence our way of giving feedback to our students.
Because, when our students make a mistake, we as a teacher should prepared so many
sources to carry our correctness. So that our feedback be more useful and be convinced.
Giving positive feedback
 Good feedback is more than just praise

 The feedback tends to praise students for their work or usually use words that boast
students

 This feedback is only for giving students appreciation because of student’s act toward
our lesson.

Finding nuances, diversified observation and giving feedback in different ways

Different ways of giving feedback are:

 Simple feedback

 Specified feedback

 Unspecific compliments

 Strengthening the experiences

 Listening actively

 Writen feedback

Simple Feedback:
 Means that you give a short feedback to the student

 Stating confidence or appreciation for something

 E.g. The teacher can encourage the students

 “I’m happy that you are well prepared for this assigment.”

Specified feedback:
 Means that apart from the simple feedback, the teacher justifies and specifies why they
have this opinion

E.g. of feedback:
“I’m happy that you are well prepared for this assignment. This means that we can continue
further in processing the subjects at hand.”

Unspecific compliments:
 Means stating an opinion or giving feedback, where the recipient’s unique worth is
recognised, regardless of their performance or behavior

 The teacher can strengthen the group spirit by saying e.g.:

“I love being your teacher!”

“I’ve missed seeing you at the lectures!”

Stregthening the experiences:

 This is a form of feedback that is meant to observe experiences and feelings as well as
sharing them and verbalising them.

 The teacher can use this form of feedback e.g. with new students:

“I understand if you feel nervous in the beginning. It’s quite normal and I can remember my self
being nervous when I started studying.”

Listening actively:
 The aim is to listen to the student and thus strive to understand what the student has to
say

 Then the teacher repeats in her own words what she thinks the student said

 During this form of feedback the teacher does not assess, express her own opinions, ask
questions or give advice to the student.
Written feedback:
 Written feedback is perhaps the form of feedback we first think about, when hear the
word feedback

 It is good to draw up the feedback with care, because:

 The feedback becomes stronger in written form

 Written feedback can be read several times

 When planning the feedback, remember that it should:

 be part of the intended learning outcomes

 Support the students thinking

 Gives the student the opportunity to improve on their performance

Giving critique in a constructive way 1:
 Giving critique in a constructive way

 the academic tradition has often been to find faults in the work.

 This could be viewed as promoting quality, but it should be done constructively.

 It is important to receive critique; this helps the person evolve and learn.

 The critique becomes constructive, when the performance in addition to how to

proceed.

 The student should be aware of

• What does not work

• Why it does not work

• What can be done instead

Giving critique in constructive way 2:

 The critique becomes constructive, when the student is told how she/he can
alternatively performance

 Constructive critique should be specified in order to be constructive and instructive.

Giving critique in a constructive way 3:

By observing the following things critique can be made constructive:

• Express your opinion

• Present the critique in the form of a wish

• Use the word “I” when communicating

Giving critique in a constructive way 4:
1. Listening is more important than advice orratings. Everyone has their own idea of
strengths and weaknesses. The teacher may ask first what the student himself thinks of
his performance (eg. self-assessment).

2. Feedback should apply to student’s output or activity, not human personalities

3. The power struggle should be avoided when giving feedback. Feedback situation should
not end in yes-no debate between the teacher and the student.

4. Feedback should be given during the learning process ( the course). That is when the
teacher can guide the student.
 References:
 Alaoutinen, S.&al. (2009). Lut-Teachers Quality Manual. On Internet:

http://www.lut.fi/en/lut/introduction/qualitymanual/Documents/Opettajan Laatuopas
B5 Eng www.pdf.

 Biggs, J. (2009. Enhancing learning through constructive alignment. On

Internet:http://www.ouhk.edu.hk/PAU/20th_Anniversary/web/090514_JohnBiggs.pdf

 Biggs,J. (2011). SOLO Taxonomy. On internet:

http://www.johnbiggs.com.au/solo graph.html

 Elmgren, M. & Henriksson, A-S. (2010). Universitetspedagogik.

 Hypponen, P. (2009). Handbook for Teachers.

 Ramsden, P. (2003). Learning to teach in Higher Education. 2th Edition. London:

Routledge.

 Maxom, M. (2009). Teaching English as a Foreign Language for Dummies. John Willey
and Sons, Ltd. England: West Sussex.