Suggestions for commenting on students' work
Grades alone have been found to be a poor source of formative feedback. The reasoning behind why students received particular grades is often too unclear for them to use the information to improve their learning. Grades may even be counterproductive to learning as they divert attention away from looking for aspects of the student's work that they can be improved.
The greatest improvement to student learning is achieved by providing students with constructive feedback on their work (Black & Wiliam, 1998). For your comments to have an impact on learning students have to have an opportunity to revise their work. There is considerable advice available to assist you in undertaking this process efficiently. This short guide summarises some suggestions on how to write comments which will help students to improve their written assignment.
Writing constructive comments
Producing an assignment involves a series of stages. Students begin by exploring the ideas, develop a critical position to the material, organise that material into a coherent argument and ensure the final work meets the required style and formatting. Some of the commonly used criteria for written work are the quality of the ideas and evidence used; the critical interpretation; development and organisation of the argument; and the style and corrections of the final paper. When providing comments you should give priority to content, context and organisation before you concentrate your comments on style and correctness.
Good feedback involves a conversation between the lecturer and the student. As well as an opportunity to respond to your comments, constructive feedback consists of at least three different kinds of statements. It should provide positive encouragement by identifying the good or successful features of the student’s work. It needs to give information about how the assignment can be improved and it should makes suggestions on the steps needed to meet the assignments criteria.
An example of a helpful comment might be:
A great way to start to your assignment (positive encouragement). Simple, direct, interesting (Give information). Is there ever just a right or wrong answer? (Ask a question) Don’t draw too heavily on your source material (Give information). Try to think critically and evaluate both sides of the argument then come up with your own original thesis (Provide a suggestion).
Whether you are praising the student’s work, asking for or giving information, make a suggestion or correcting mechanics like style and grammar, ensure you phrase your comments in language that the student can understand. Keep the tone of your comments positive and encouraging. Students prefer negative comments to be phrased as a question rather than a statement. Keep the language literal and avoid misunderstandings that can arise from sarcasm, humour, abstract, technical language or abbreviations.
Helping students to use feedback
The closer the feedback is to the actual task the more useful it is to the student. Considering the amount of time you spend on commenting on students’ work you should also make sure that it has maximum impact by making certain that the feedback does not come too late to be acted upon. Here are some suggestions for encouraging students to use feedback they receive on their assignment:
- Set in-class exercises that are only for feedback
- Submit assessable work in stages
- Submit a plan for a project
- Allow resubmission of pieces of work
- Have students pair up and discuss how to improve their work
- Have students write down the one thing they will do as a result of their feedback.
Further Reading
Black, P. & Wiliam, D. (1998). Assessment and classroom learning. Assessment in Education 5, (1) 7-74
Higgins, R., Hartley, P., & Skelton, A. (2002). The Conscientious Consumer: reconsidering the role of assessment feedback in student learning. Studies in Higher Education, 27(1), 53-64.
Orrell, J. (2002). Feedback on learning achievement: Rhetoric and reality. Paper presented at the Evaluations and Assessment Conference 2002, Brisbane 14-15 November
Sadler, D. R. (1989). Formative assessment and the design of instructional systems. Instructional Science, 18, 119-114.
Stough, L. M., & Emmer, E. T. (1998). Teacher's emotions and test feedback. Qualitative Studies in Education, 11(2), 341-361.
Straub, R. (2000). The student, the text, and the classroom context. A case study of teacher response. Assessing Writing, 7, pp. 23-55.