Feedback Literacy for Secondary Students
Background: College readiness has been an issue for decades in the secondary educational setting. Predictors of college readiness to consider are the ability to write well, to accept criticism and to adjust which are also valuable skills outside of academia. A writing class is the ideal place to explore the development of these skills. In urban settings too often, there is little writing practice, or it is dispensed with altogether due to the time it takes an instructor to review. Teaching students to give each other more useful feedback could potentially lead to more intellectual gains. Currently the research that has been conducted in feedback literacy is mostly at the post-secondary level. Purpose: The study aimed to explore the ways in which a secondary educator could implement a curriculum to assist students in developing their skills for giving and receiving feedback while recognizing the hallmarks of quality writing and the ability to apply this knowledge to their own work. The research questions are: How can a high school English instructor teach secondary students to give and receive purposeful feedback? and What does survey information reveal about student attitudes regarding feedback? Methods: The approach is a qualitative self-study in which archival data from surveys collected as part of the curriculum were coded thematically. The themes that emerged from the student surveys were the basis for creating the criteria used in the rubric to determine improvements in the giving of feedback. The documents for review included de-identified student work along with survey responses, the two feedback tools (the glow and grow peer edit form and a single point rubric). Journal entries of the participant and a video recorded lesson were also examined. Trustworthiness was established as the full “data corpus” was combed through and themes were adjusted to determine feedback effectiveness. The adjustment and readjustment of subthemes, using open coding methods, provided a saturation of evidence to support thematic findings. The comparison of several iterations of feedback examples produced over the course of four six weeks grading periods were evaluated to determine if students’ ability to give feedback improved. Results: Six themes emerged regarding what students found purposeful in feedback: 1) Students found the receiving of feedback to be mostly positive with some degree of nervousness in feeling judged; 2) The majority of students found the actual practice of giving feedback to be most valuable while some preferred demonstrations from the instructor; 3) Most students learned the value of specificity in the giving of feedback; 4) Students found the discussion with peers about their work to be the most helpful part of the editorial process and the importance of critically examining the work of others to be helpful; 5) Students felt that they gained most in how to give evidence and how to organize their writing effectively; and 6) Students reported a preference for a feedback tool that had well defined parameters to remind them what to look for while acknowledging that those tools led to more generic outcomes. The students did improve in the proficiency of giving purposeful feedback with 55% being deemed proficient or better in the second iteration to 81% by the fourth. Scores changed slightly in the fifth iteration with the introduction of the single point rubric to 77% indicating to the participant the importance of practice using the same tool when learning to give feedback. There was a positive correlation indicated in the improvement of writing through the examination of student writing portfolios and in the participant’s passing scores from 37% in 2022 to 43% in 2023 overall. Conclusion: With instructional guidance, secondary students can learn to give effective feedback. Further research should be conducted in feedback literacy to show conclusive effects on composition.
Education, Curriculum and Instruction, Education, Language and Literature
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