What teachers say and what students perceive–Interpretations of feedback in teacher-student assessment dialogues

Abstract

It is commonly known and accepted that feedback has a significant effect on learning and that it is a wise investment in the education system to develop good strategies for assessment involving informative feedback. However, despite the effort put into professional development programmes for teachers and despite teachers working with the recommended didactic approaches to assessment, students still sometimes miss out on intended learning. The current study aims to uncover different types of communicative interaction involving feedback. Through a qualitative analysis of observation notes and video, it was possible to distinguish four typical categories of feedback. The common arenas for formative assessment dialogue are identified and typical actions that are taken by the students and the teachers in the different interactional situations are discussed. The findings imply that knowledge and awareness of the context in which the interaction is played out is important for understanding how students relate to feedback.