Second edition

Read these lips and tick die ones which are most important for you.
ф Wherever possible, feedback should be balanced, focused and helpful. It needs to be balanced so that there is comment on positive aspects of a learner's work as well as areas he/she needs to improve; focused so that the learner knows exactly what the good points are and what the problems are; helpful so that the learner knows what steps to 1 ake to improve. Tbis is particularly important fоr weaкeг оr 1 ess confiden 1 learners.

• 
  Feedback can be given at different stages of a lesson, for example at the beginning of the lesson when we comment on work we have marked, during an activity, while we monitor learners doing pair work or group work, at the end of an activity when we tell learners how they did, or correct their common errors at the end of or after the lesson when we are marking some written work.
  

© During class or individual feedback it is possible to revisit or recycle language that learners are having problems with, by providing learners with written exercises, or by including the language for review in an oral activity in the following lesson.

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  Small-group feedback sessions are useful for the teacher and learners to give and receive feedback on classes and on teaching and learning.
  

© Feedback which is particularly personal or sensitive should be given to learners privately and not in front of the whole class.
© Written or oral feedback, can be given to learners after formal assessment in addition to a mark or grade. This feedback should include guidance on how learners can improve their work.
m Learner diaries provide teachers with an opportunity for individual, private two- way feedback (learner to teacher as well as teacher to learner).
© Learners often need guidance to help them provide teachers with feedback. If we say to learners, for example, 'Write some feedback for me about the lesson and about your learning styles in your learner diaries. You have ten minutes/ it is likely that learners will not be able to provide much useful feedback because the task is too general. It is better to give learners guidance or a framework to work with.
For example, we can review the activities in the lesson, what they did in each activity and the types of interaction. We can then ask learners to write about which activities they preferred and why. Over a number of lessons we can introduce other elements so that learners become more familiar with reflection and with giving feedback.
See Units ?8 and 22 for assessment


(See page 244 for answers)
Look at this section of a lesson plan. What is the purpose of each of the underlined feedback sections? Feedback might be teacher to students, students to teacher or


student to student.


217

	.Procedure.
ю-15 minutes	Listening: Tell students the gist question and plav the CD. Students compare their answers in pairs. Elicit answers from the class.
Ю minutes	Tell students to read the true/faise statements silently. Check key words. Play the CD again. Students decide true or false for each statement. Check answers with the class.
5 minutes	Elicit from students the strategies thev used to do the true/false arfivitv. Remind
	them they have the same task in the exam.
590 minutes	Have students take out their notebooks. They complete the vocabulary exercise in their notebooks. Monitor students as thev do the activity. Remind them to look back in the book and check with their friends.
5 minutes	End the lesson bv eliciting feedback from students on what thev did in the lesson
	and what thev think thev learnt.

Think about: these comments from teachers. Which do you agree with and why?

1. 
   My learners are only interested in the marks they get for their work. They are not interested in my comments. They don't even read them.
   
2. 
   1 want to encourage my slower learners, but 1 sometimes find it hard to give them useful feedback on their work. They make so many mistakes!
   
3. 
   I don't think we should ask learners to give feedback to their teachers. The teachers know what to do and how to do it. It's not the learners' job to tell teachers what to do.
   

DISCOVERY ACTIVITIES

1. 
   If yon teach younger learners, try the feedback chat on page 111 of English for Primary Teachers by Mary Slattery and Jane Willis, Oxford University Press 2001. Note down what happened in your Teacher Portfolio.
   
2. 
   For more ideas on how to give feedback, look at Units Three and Four of A Course in Language Teaching by Penny Ur, Cambridge University Press 1996.
   
3. 
   Try introducing peer feedback sessions in some of your classes. Are they effective? How do the learners feel about this approach? Note down what happens and the learners' reactions in your Teacher Portfolio.
   

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Unit 33 Giving feedback