Students’ perception of teachers’ two-way feedback interactions that impact learning

Abstract

Teacher-student interactions are fundamental to learning outcomes. However, the facilitation of student-defined, in-class two-way feedback interaction is under-researched. The purpose of this paper is to share insights from Year 9 students (N = 32; age = 14–15 years), describing effective teacher’s two-way feedback interaction through Respectful Inquiry (RI; asking questions, question openness, and attentive listening). Small-focussed group interviews were conducted and transcripts were inductively analysed to represent the conceptualised effective student-described teacher behaviour and associated learning outcomes. Findings confirm that two-way feedback, as opposed to unilateral teacher feedback, is facilitative of more diverse and higher-order learning outcomes. According to the students, RI is constitutive in the two-way feedback interaction process; executed together, positive psychological needs support and metacognition are fostered. While this research was exploratory, the findings offer practical and novel insights on teachers’ two-way feedback interactions that can enhance students’ metacognition and suggests how specific feedback behaviours augment higher-order learning outcomes.