Listening to Our Students: An Exploratory Practice Study of ESL Writing Students' Views of Feedback

Abstract

This exploratory practice research is a collaborative effort by five university ESL instructors to investigate how students in their program's advanced writing course view, respond to, and make meaning of the feedback they receive. Through semistructured interviews with focus groups, this research aims to provide students with a forum to express their perceptions, opinions, and insights. The teacher-researchers found that participants' relationship with feedback consisted of a set of interactions with the comments and text on the writing assignment itself, with classmates during peer review, and with the instructor during personal communication. Through examining these interactions, the teacher-researchers found that student views of feedback were often driven by an emotional response that was heavily influenced by grades and the teacher's written comments. Students had mixed, and often negative, reactions to receiving feedback from peers, but they spoke positively of their one-on-one interactions with their instructors. In response to their findings, the teacher-researchers reflect on their own practice and pose questions to the field at large. They conclude by urging other teachers and administrators to create more space for students to voice their views and insights.