Abstract
We investigated the effect of feedback order—teachers’ written, descriptive comments followed by evaluative scores—on students’ performance and learning for chemistry and mathematics in a Singapore mathematics and science specialized secondary school. This action research adopted an explanatory mixed-methods design with an intervention, with interviews, student survey, and assessments. The participants were 60 secondary school students: 33 students from secondary-one and 27 students from secondary-four. Repeated measures ANOVA results from the four-week study period indicated that there was no significant difference (p > 0.10) between the performance of the participants who received comments only (C group) and participants who received comments followed by evaluative scores (CS group) for both chemistry and mathematics, indicating there was no negative effect on receiving evaluative scores after the written descriptive comments. Qualitative findings indicated students could recognize the goals of the feedback and the score delay. The study shows that feedback order is important to consider in comparing effects of different forms of feedback, with implications for future research and for practice.
Highlights
Introduction & literature reviewEffective feedback appears as one of the most powerful influences on learning, achievement, and teaching (Black and Wiliam, 1998a, 1998b; Hattie and Timperley, 2007; Tunstall and Gipps, 1996)
There was no significant interaction of time with the experimental condition, F (3, 87) = .385, p = .764, or previous ability, F (3, 87) = 1.715, p = .170. These results demonstrated that the participants’ performances varied for the learning check (LC) and quiz, and that the overall finding was consistent for all the participants
There was no significant effect of experimental condition, F (1, 29) = 1.936, p = .736. This indicated that there was no difference for the CS group from the C group, meaning there was no negative effect of providing scores to the CS group after they received the feedback
Summary
Introduction & literature reviewEffective feedback appears as one of the most powerful influences on learning, achievement, and teaching (Black and Wiliam, 1998a, 1998b; Hattie and Timperley, 2007; Tunstall and Gipps, 1996). The feedback model proposed by Hattie and Timperley (2007) is adopted as a theoretical framework for this study Under this model, feedback serves as part of assessment for learning because it is focused on the students’ receiving, understanding, and acting on the feedback in their learning. Feedback serves as part of assessment for learning because it is focused on the students’ receiving, understanding, and acting on the feedback in their learning This is subtly different from the notion of formative assessment wherein assessment information is a guide to teachers in planning for instruction. According to this model, the main purpose of feedback is to reduce discrepancies between a current
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