Analysing the significance of formative feedback on the development of writing abilities

  

Significance of formative feedback on the development of writing abilities

 

Introduction 

 

Writing has never been my strong suit. Since high school, I have faced significant challenges in writing courses due to my weak structuring skills. Over the years throughout my junior high school and college years, although I studied the process of writing, neither could it significantly help me understand the limitations in my writing nor gave me a comprehensive idea about learning how to write. Moreover, during the college years, the emphasis on language learning in both verbal and written methods continuously declined. Thus, I comparatively relied on my common sense and intuition to scribble words which, of course, was never satisfactory. Hence, as a student majoring in Computer Science, I am skeptical and worried about my final research project, which would contain significant writing scope.  

 

I realized the biggest problem of language learning during my junior and high school years was the deprivation of formative feedback. Thus, there were very few scopes to reflect on my thinking and evaluate my learnings. Although we were taught the basics of learning and writing, there were no options to receive personalized feedback of our own creation, thus restricting my scope of learning, which I find to be the main reason to lag behind in writing and the thought behind structuring it. It was the first time that I found an incredible way of receiving feedback on my report that allowed me to gain knowledge about the flaws in my writing and acquire critical suggestions for improving and presenting my content to the audience. Court (2014) and Wingate (2014) found formative comments helped students become more aware of the  writing weaknesses and motivated them to improve them (2010). The provision of receiving and providing feedback to others helped me have a better understanding from a reader's perspective. . Thus it led me to comprehend the process of organizing my essay in a reader-friendly manner, maintaining the standard of literature. 

 

Importance of Formative Feedback 

Educators develop formative feedback to entice students to constantly reflect on their approaches to, orientations to, and evaluations of learning, which results in effective learning outcomes. Considering the significance of peer feedback versus no feedback, the only two studies that included this comparison (Cho and MacArthur 2011; Tsai and Chuang 2013) discovered a significant composite influence, indicating that students' participation in a peer feedback system enhances their writing performance in comparison to receiving no feedback at all. (Bart Huisman, Nadira Saab, Paul van den Broek & Jan van Driel, 2019). Formative feedback will potentially facilitate students by 

(1) providing opportunities for self-improvement in learning;

(2) increasing student confidence; 

(3) assisting the next teacher/lecturer in selecting appropriate learning strategies; and 

(4) promoting self-regulated growth of students (Hatziapostolou, T and Paraskakis, I., 2010). 

It is believed that the usage of feedback is strongly connected to student participation and peer assessment. Furthermore, it is a component of the overall quality of evaluation. Learning outcomes can be improved by providing feedback in the classroom. According to Shankararaman, efficient utilization of feedback in the classroom can enhance both the teaching process and the curriculum, ultimately leading to better student outcomes. 

I am compelled to agree with these authors' conjecture.The critique of my classmates aided me in improving my writing by evaluating the flaws identified in my text. Frequently, I had to conduct research in order to improve my writing. It wasn't only about the errors; their acknowledgement of the strength in my work lifted my confidence and reassured me. Their recommendation has been a major guiding factor in the learning process. This is because the comments not only supported me in identifying the issues and addressing them, but also improved my self-esteem and enabled me in identifying my writing strengths.

Strategy for Formative Feedback  

 

Sadler's study is one of the most prominent studies backing the Black and Wiliam review and the writings of other researchers (1989). Sadler outlined three requirements that must be met for pupils to gain feedback. The learner must: 

• Possess a concept of the goal/standard or reference level being aimed for

• Compare the actual (or current) level of performance with that goal or standard 

• Engage inappropriate action. 

What feedback is supplied, how it is presented to students, how well it is received by students, and the extent to which it is integrated into future teaching and learning are all factors to consider.  When it comes to good feedback, it is all about exploiting moments of contingency' (Black & Williams, 2009), or, as Brookhart puts it, delivering information at the right time and place to do the best' (just-in-time, just-for-me information) when and where it may do the best. In order to be effective, feedback on formative assessment needs to possess several qualities: it needs to be timely, constructive, motivational, personal, manageable and directly related to assessment criteria and learning outcomes (Race, 2006; Irons, 2008; Juwah et al., 2004; Race, 2001). A formative feedback system should target as many as feasible of these traits to enhance learning. These assertions are supported by the current study, which examines teachers' and students' impressions of feedback, and more specifically, how feedback is employed.

Impact of Providing Feedback 

 

Research has shown that when compared to receiving feedback, the effects of providing feedback to students are identical (Barnard, de Luca & Li, 2015; Huisman, Saab, van Driel & van den Broek, 2018). Providing feedback is a key aspect of assessment and is fundamental in enabling students to learn from assessment. It was also important to note that remark quality impacted feedback's utility. Crisp (2007) and Wingate (2010) found that students' writing improved the most when they received critical feedback, which was true for me. 

Throughout this course, I've read numerous essays written by my classmates and had the opportunity to provide feedback. To begin, I gained the opportunity to critically study my peers' writing. This assessment broadened my horizons and drove me to approach my article from a fresh perspective. Formative feedback should have a variety of characteristics in order to promote learning and improve performance on cognitive and skill outcomes. Race (2006); Irons (2008); Juwah et al. (2004); Shute (2008) discuss and illustrate the essential characteristics, and emphasize that feedback must be timely, motivating, manageable on a human level, and directly related to the assessment criteria. As a result, offering formative feedback ensuring these qualities , enabled me to engage in rigorous self-assessment, which is a necessary component of learning. Whenever I attempted to provide feedback, it encouraged me to consider the overall quality of my work. Thus, providing feedback to others allowed us to discover the shortcomings and systematic mistakes in my writing. It aided me in reflecting on my writing from the reader's perspective. Additionally, the benefit of providing feedback is that students gain a better understanding of what is expected.  

Impact of Receiving Feedback 

Learners have the opportunity to enhance their academic writing through the provision of formative feedback by both peers and instructors.The majority of students found feedback on exams and assignments to be beneficial, as it provided information regarding how well they performed and what was expected of them. Formative feedback helps learners become more aware of differences between their current writing performance and their desired writing performance (Court, 2014; Huisman, Saab, van Driel & van den Broek, 2018; Shrestha & Coffin, 2012). Studying writing intervention treatments, this meta-analysis indicated a significant and beneficial influence on writing quality while contrasting students who engaged in "peer assistance" with students who wrote on their own. 

Since English is my second language, I am aware that I have some significant inadequacies in my writing; nonetheless, I frequently fail to address the underlying issues in my writing. It appears as though I am unable of effectively expressing the thoughts that are going through my mind. Receiving comments has aided me in discerning areas of weakness in my writing and guiding me toward comprehensive solutions for overcoming the problems. Occasionally, it aided me in acquiring the precise frame of reference I was trying to seek. I'd like to begin with the most pertinent example, namely my experience writing this reflective essay. After I submitted the first draft, I received over twenty-five feedback from my peers, noting my flaws as a reader and recommending ways to enhance my writing. As I was writing my final manuscript, I analyzed and resolved each advice iendeavoring to ensure a better reading experience. Additionally, they have acknowledged and praised the strengths in my writing. When my contemporaries expressed their appreciation for my writing by recognizing the strength, it bolstered my confidence and assurance in my creation. For instance, remarks such as "excellent research" and "well-written essay" boosted my enthusiasm in learning significantly.

  

Conclusion

Formative feedback can help undergraduate students improve their academic writing skills by raising their awareness of their own limitations and the requirements of their assignments (Barnard, de Luca & Li, 2015; Court, 2014; Huisman, Saab, van Driel & van den Broek, 2018; Wingate, 2010). Additionally, formative criticism that is constructive in nature has been demonstrated to have significant benefits in terms of motivating students to revise their work (Court, 2014; Wingate, 2010). Providing high-quality formative feedback and assuring that students engage with it facilitates and promotes learning. After receiving feedback, I was able to make necessary modifications, such as adding a missing need from the rubric and identifying patterns and areas of weakness in my writing. In addition, providing feedback to fellow classmates helped them better understand the standards for their assignments, reducing a significant obstacle to my academic achievement and helping me secure better marks. This process has encouraged me to put more effort into writing, enhanced my self-awareness, and gave me a better understanding of academic writing. 

 

References

Barnard, R., De Luca, R., & Li, J. (2014). First-year undergraduate students’ perceptions of lecturer and peer feedback: A New Zealand action research project. Studies in Higher Education,40(5), 933-944. doi:10.1080/03075079.2014.881343

Court, K. (2012). Tutor feedback on draft essays: Developing students’ academic writing and subject knowledge. Journal of Further and Higher Education,38(3), 327-345. doi:10.1080/0309877x.2012.706806

Crisp, B. R. (2007). Is it worth the effort? How feedback influences students’ subsequent submission of assessable work. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education,32(5), 571-581. doi:10.1080/02602930601116912

Hatziapostolou, T and Paraskakis, I. (2010) “Enhancing the Impact of Formative Feedback on Student Learning through an Online Feedback System” Electronic Journal of e-Learning Volume 8 Issue 2 2010, (pp111 - 122), 

Sadler D R (1989). Formative assessment and the design of instructional systems. Instructional Science. 1989.18(2):119-144

Chan, J. C., & Lam, S. F. (2010). Effects of different evaluative feedback on students' self-efficacy in learning. Instructional Science, 38(1), 37-58.

Black P. William D (1998). Assessment and classroom learning. Assessment in education. 1998.5(1):7-74

Bart Huisman, Nadira Saab, Paul van den Broek & Jan van Driel (2019) The impact of formative peer feedback on higher education students’ academic writing: a Meta-Analysis, Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 44:6, 863-880, DOI: 10.1080/02602938.2018.1545896

Race, P. (2006) The Lecturer’s Toolkit – A Practical Guide to Assessment, Learning and Teaching, 3rd Edition, Routledge, London

M. M. Trusca, D. Wassenberg, F. Frasincar, and R. Dekker, “A Hybrid Approach for Aspect-Based Sentiment Analysis Using Deep Contextual Word Embeddings and Hierarchical Attention,” arXiv Prepr. arXiv2004.08673, 2020.