Module teaching and integrating language skills lesson 1

Example 5: Descriptive feedback, help from the teacher.

The question is relatively simple, demanding a one-word answer from the pupil. When the teacher notices that the answer is incorrect, he then asks a more detailed question about the topic, leading the pupils to change his answer into a correct one. In my opinion this works well, and is much more fruitful when it comes to actually learning the issue, rather than immediately pointing out that the answer is wrong and telling the right answer himself.
Hargreave´s evaluative and descriptive feedback(2000:23) are major categories of the feedback types seen and analysed in the data, but in addition to these groups, I have defined a third one to include the rest of the feedback in the analysis. Into the other feedback groupI have chosen the type of feedback that concerns for example the working atmosphere in the class. There are few classes where the teacher does not have to control the overall focusing and atmosphere in any way. On the contrary, especially with younger pupils it is crucial to have the right ways to maintain a good, focused classroom environment. In example 6 below, the teacher attempts to talk about issues related to the day´s topic, but is interrupted by a noise coming from the class. He very directly shows that this noise is bothering him, and even names the one pupil who is responsible for the noise.