Effective instructor feedback does not always promote better public speaking outcomes: the importance of self-efficacy and feedback orientation(s) in the introductory course

Abstract

ABSTRACT Research has yet to fully explain the processes through which feedback affects student outcomes. The majority of research has also focused on feedback from an instructor's perspective. Guided by feedback intervention theory (FIT; Kluger, A. N., & DeNisi, A. [1996]. The effect of feedback interventions on performance: A historical review, a meta-analysis, and a preliminary feedback intervention theory. Psychological Bulletin, 119[2], 254–284. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.119.2.254), and using longitudinal online survey data from students in an undergraduate introductory communication course at a 4-year university (N = 2,523), we found that self-efficacy mediated the relationship between perceived feedback effectiveness and both PSA and CC, playing a positive role in increasing students’ CC and decreasing their PSA. Various feedback orientations, especially feedback sensitivity and confidentiality, exerted moderating and/or conditional indirect effects on our proposed feedback cycle. These findings advance scholarly knowledge of the feedback cycle according to FIT, repositioning self-efficacy as a critical mediator. They also speak to the importance of understanding how students’ feedback orientations can dampen or strengthen the positive impact of effective feedback on public speaking outcomes. Additional theoretical implications and pedagogical recommendations are discussed.