Dialogic Feedback Research Articles

Iranian novice English teachers\u2019 agency construction: the complexity dynamic/system perspective

This study drew on qualitative research and focused on the exercise of agency among the novice English teachers in the Iranian context. Fifteen novice English teachers who have been teaching English in private language institutes in Baneh, Iran were invited through snowball sampling. The analyses of semi-structured and focus group interviews, from the complexity dynamic/system perspective, revealed that teachers practice agency employing dialogic feedback, positioning, and critical incidents. The results further indicated that teachers made a learning community to make the right decision, predict future incidents, and develop their professional agency. The analyses provide implications for the policymakers, teacher educators, and curriculum designers to construct a better opportunity for beginning teachers to become highly-qualified in their careers.

How does the medium affect the message? Architecture students’ perceptions of the relative utility of different feedback methods

Pedagogic discourse on feedback has shifted away from teachers’ actions towards how it is used by students to improve their work and learning strategies. In architecture programmes feedback occurs through a combination of methods; this paper presents the outcomes of a questionnaire study researching undergraduate and postgraduate students’ perceptions of which they considered most and least useful, and how they could be enhanced. With increased attention on dialogic approaches to feedback, the study provides insight into students’ views of the relative utility of several dialogic feedback methods. Key themes that emerged which affect feedback utility are the environment in which feedback takes place, feedback discourse and message content. Although the signature pedagogy is centred on verbal dialogue, the perceived value of that dialogue varied significantly; some methods were considered much more useful, others left students uncertain and seeking greater clarification within the feedback message. The study suggests contact time be considered qualitatively as well as quantitatively. Another significant finding is students’ desire for more visual feedback, which may be salient to disciplines across the art and design subject area. Other implications for practice are discussed.

“Take a look at this!”. Video annotation as a means to foster evidence-based and reflective external and self-given feedback: A preliminary study in operati on room technician training

Receiving and giving oneself formative feedback is essential to professionals’ development of reflective attitudes towards their practices. In the healthcare professions, debriefing sessions are often used to provide feedback. Such sessions often incorporate videos to support the debriefing process. However, this usually occurs with reference to simulations and not to actual practice; furthermore, the potential of using video-annotation software to analyse practice has not been fully exploited in nursing education. To explore this still under-investigated potential, the current pilot study was conducted in the domain of operation room technicians to investigate whether the use of videos of actual practice and video-annotation software affected the quality of feedback given during the debriefing sessions. The pilot experience seems to confirm that this approach is feasible in actual practice. More particularly, the results suggest that video support enables more supportive feedback about work processes and more evidence- and situation-based feedback than regular debriefing without video. The use of video annotation also tends to support more student-driven and dialogical feedback as well as tending to increase student acceptance of feedback. Additional research is needed to further investigate the feasibility of this approach within hospitals.

‘One step up, but not there yet’: using client feedback to optimise the therapeutic alliance in family therapy

As research suggests that there is a strong link between the quality of the therapeutic alliance and the effectiveness of psychotherapy, family therapists should reflect on ways to improve the quality of the alliance. The systematic use of client feedback can be a rich resource as a response to the complexity of the alliance in the family therapy setting. In this paper the focus is on ways in which the client’s systematic feedback can contribute to an optimisation of the therapeutic alliance. We present the Dialogical Feedback Tool (DFT), a simple feedback instrument to be used especially in family therapy sessions in which young children are involved. A case study illustrates how the feedback of clients on their experiences in therapy can help therapists to better attune to family members' experiences and expectations about therapy.Practitioner points The therapeutic alliance in family therapy is complex, especially when children are involved Using a simple feedback instrument can help deal with the complexity of the therapeutic alliance The most important challenge for therapists using feedback instruments is how to integrate the feedback in a constructive way in the therapeutic process

Balancing supportive relationships and developing independence: an activity theory approach to understanding feedback in context for master’s students

Master’s students are expected to be self-regulating and independent learners. Dialogic feedback has been identified as one way of promoting such independence. There continues to be concern about the extent to which master’s students are achieving this level of functioning. This study aimed to identify feedback practices and contexts which facilitated student engagement and independence. Working with students as co-researchers, interviews were conducted with 27 master’s students from three programmes. Activity theory was used as an analytical tool to generate understanding of feedback in the social context of each programme. Findings indicate there can be tension between factors which promote dialogical feedback and those which promote independence, and that active dialogic feedback with staff may limit student engagement with peer feedback.

Feedback engagement of Chinese international doctoral students

ABSTRACT Despite the burgeoning research on feedback, we know little about the ways in which students engage with supervisory feedback in doctoral writing – a crucial element for understanding students’ feedback uptake. To address this issue, this study uses text analysis and semi-structured interviews to explore Chinese international doctoral students’ engagement with supervisory feedback from invisible and overt dimensions [Handley, Karen, Margaret Price, and Jill Millar. 2011. “Beyond ‘Doing Time’: Investigating the Concept of Student Engagement with Feedback.” Oxford Review of Education 37 (4): 543–560]. We contextualise this study within intercultural doctoral supervision and focus on the process of students’ writing and revising their PhD proposals. Results show that by engaging invisibly and overtly with the feedback, the students not only co-construct and lead the feedback dialogues but also maintain their voice and ownership of the writing. However, the findings also suggest the danger that supervisors may neglect students’ invisible feedback engagement and interpret their mindful reflections as none or superficial engagement with feedback. Students’ feedback engagement involves negotiations with multiple, even conflicting cultural values mainly from disciplinary norms and their inherited Chinese cultures (e.g. the different manifestations of critical thinking). We suggest developing a constructive attitude towards cultural diversity to facilitate feedback dialogues in intercultural doctoral supervision.

Digging Deeper into Dialogic Feedback: Evaluating How Science Teachers Manage Uncertainty as a Predictor of Students’ Ability to Construct an Epistemically Sound Argument

In this study, we examined the relationship between the use of two teachers’ dialogue feedback as an educational practice to promote evidence-based argumentation in middle school science lessons and the students’ ability to create scientific arguments in a standardized critical thinking exam. The teachers had an equal amount of training on Argument-Based Inquiry (ABI) and taught in a federally-identified low-income school. When the patterns of talk were analyzed, divergent themes emerged and feedback that promoted critique correlated with student achievement on the critical thinking exam.

Teacher–student interactions and feedback in English as a foreign language classrooms

ABSTRACT This study focuses on the quality of teacher–student interactions and feedback in teaching English as a foreign language (EFL). Data consisted of 65 video-recorded lessons from 13 classrooms in two lower-secondary schools, and were coded with Classroom Assessment Scoring System–Secondary. Four cases were selected and analysed for feedback practice based on teachers’ use of first language (L1: here, Norwegian) and target language (L2: here, English) in EFL lessons. Teacher–student interactions were characterised by mid quality of emotional support and high quality of classroom organisation, but relatively low quality of instructional support. The results revealed an interdependence between quality of feedback and instructional dialogue, yet there appeared to be difficulties in supporting students’ internal feedback and self-regulation. Engaging in extended feedback dialogues in the L2 seemed to be a central challenge facing the EFL teachers. The results provide knowledge for teacher education and teachers’ facilitation of student learning.

Students' Feedback about Feedback; Have our PBL tutors started the shift towards a dialogic ask-tell-ask approach?

Objective:A paradigm shift towards a PBL bidirectional dialogic feedback can enhance learners’ performance. This study aimed to investigate undergraduate medical students’ perceptions of their PBL feedback.Methods:We sent e-mail invitations to a web-based survey to year one and two students at College of Medicine, King Saud University. Items included the process, content, and benefits of PBL feedback.Results:Of 209 respondents, 110 (53%) were first and 99 (47%) were second-year students. About 50% agreed that the feedback was regularly provided at scheduled timing and 72% perceived feedback environment as non-threatening. Agreement rates that the tutors asked students first to assess their performance, tell them what went well, what the areas for improvement are and develop with them an improvement plan were 59%, 61%, 61% and 52%, respectively. 61% agreed that tutors judged performance not personality. More year one students significantly agreed that the PBL feedback helped them to improve their knowledge acquisition and non-technical skills.Conclusion:Many of our PBL tutors have started the shift to a dialogic bi-directional feedback. We recommend continuing the faculty development efforts, peer-reviewing, and seeking student’s feedback within the academic quality satisfaction surveys.

A Whole-Class Self-Assessment Method to Enhance Engagement with Feedback in Low-stakes, High-value Assessments in the Physical Sciences

A readily implementable and effective whole-class face-to-face tutor-led student self-assessment method for enhancing engagement with feedback is described and discussed. Key features of the approach are the transfer of responsibility for writing feedback information from teachers to students within a tutor-led face-to-face dialogic feedback session, and students’ self-penned feedback annotations being distinguished from their original work by use of a distinctly coloured pen. Results of a student evaluation are reported and reveal that students perceive this approach as beneficial to their engagement with feedback, their assessment literacy and learning of chemistry.

Does the type of feedback channel used in online learning environments matter? Students’ perceptions and impact on learning

Dialogic feedback demands an active role by lecturers and students to become effective. However, sometimes students do not engage with the feedback received. The use of technology and different channels to provide feedback (using audio and video feedback) in online learning environments could contribute to make students more active with the feedback and improve its effectiveness. The aim of this article is to investigate the use of different feedback channels (text, audio or video) and contrast their impact on academic achievement, as well as to analyse whether the feedback channel influences students’ perception of feedback in terms of their preferences. A quasi-experimental study was designed, whereby students received feedback both after they had drawn up the first draft of a written assignment and upon its completion. The results suggest that the channel through which feedback is provided does not have a bearing on performance. However, the study does identify significant differences between the quality of the first draft and that of their final submission. With regard to preferences, students preferred the video channel over the audio or written channels. In addition, they perceived video as the channel that is most conducive to greater interaction and dialogue between lecturers and students, and that also produces the greatest sense of closeness. The results obtained are discussed in light of their importance in an online environment.

Teachers’ beliefs about feedback practice as related to student self-regulation, self-efficacy, and language skills in teaching English as a foreign language

This study examines lower-secondary teachers’ beliefs about feedback practice as related to beliefs about student self-regulation, self-efficacy, and language skills while teaching English as a foreign language. Data analysis of ten individual interviews was carried out using the constant comparative method. Most of the teachers connected own feedback practice to an awareness of assessment for learning through the teaching of language skills. However, a hidden accountability system seemed to overshadow the full potential of assessment for learning for the teachers with its emphasis on testing. Aspects of marking, student involvement, and dialogic feedback were considered challenging to the feedback practice of half of the teachers. The teachers were further divided as to the relevance of feedback for self-regulation and strategy training. Although most teachers discussed feedback as important for students’ self-efficacy, unrealistic expectations and marks were considered impediments to student learning. Implications for teaching and professional learning are discussed.

Realist evaluation of UK medical education quality assurance

ObjectivesThe aim of the study was to explore what components of the General Medical Council’s (GMC) Quality Assurance Framework work, for whom, in what circumstances and how?SettingUK undergraduate and postgraduate...

Teachers’ regard for adolescent perspectives in feedback dialogues with students in lower-secondary schools

The teacher is a key agent in facilitating for adolescent perspectives during lessons. Feedback dialogues have an inherent capacity to capitalise on or undervalue adolescent perspectives in instruction and learning. The present study focused on lower-secondary school teachers’ regard for adolescent perspectives in feedback dialogues with students in lessons on English as a foreign language (EFL, n = 65) and mathematics (n = 113). The data material consisted of video recordings coded with the regard for adolescent perspectives dimension in the Classroom Assessment Scoring System–Secondary Manual. Teacher–student interactions in both EFL and mathematics lessons generally showed scores in the low range for regard for adolescent perspectives. The mathematics lessons had consistently lower scores for quality. Four cases represented the maximum and minimum mean scores for the dimension, regard for adolescent perspectives, in the observed lessons. These cases provided examples of episodes when teachers either succeeded or failed to make room for adolescent perspectives in teacher–student interactions. The results indicate that attention to adolescent perspectives seems to be a neglected aspect of feedback dialogues in lower-secondary school.
 Norsk sammendrag
 Norsk tittel: Læreres hensyn til ungdomsperspektiver i tilbakemeldingsdialoger med elever i ungdomsskolen
 Læreren er en nøkkelperson i å legge til rette for ungdomsperspektiver i undervisningen. Tilbakemeldingsdialoger har en iboende kapasitet til å styrke eller undervurdere ungdomsperspektiver i undervisning og læring. Denne studien fokuserte på ungdomsskolelæreres hensyn til ungdomsperspektiver i tilbakemeldingsdialoger med elever i engelsk- (n = 65) og matematikkundervisning (n = 113). Datamaterialet bestod av videoopptak kodet med «hensyn til ungdomsperspektiver»-dimensjonen i Classroom Assessment Scoring System– Secondary Manual. Lærer–elev interaksjoner i både engelsk og matematikk viste generelt skårer i det lavere området for hensyn til ungdomsperspektiver. Matematikktimene hadde konsekvent lavere kvalitetsskårer. Fire caser representerte maksimum- og minimumsgjennomsnittskårer for dimensjonen, hensyn til ungdomsperspektiver, i de observerte timene. Disse casene viste eksempler på episoder der lærere enten lyktes eller feilet med å gi rom til ungdomsperspektiver i lærer–elev interaksjoner. Resultatene indikerer at oppmerksomhet rundt ungdomsperspektiver ser ut til å være et forsømt aspekt av tilbakemeldingsdialoger i ungdomsskolen.

Evaluating the Impact of Two Dialogical Feedback Methods for Improving Pre-Service Teacher's Perceived Confidence and Competence to Teach Physical Education Within Authentic Learning Environments

This novel study investigates the effectiveness of two dialogical feedback methods, peer dialogue assessment and dialogical feedback provided by an academic, when they are used as assessment as learning tools in undergraduate physical education courses. Education students from the University of Newcastle, Australia (n=288), participated in this investigation and completed eight weeks of face-to-face on-campus physical education studies followed by a 3 or 4 week in-school teaching program (~1.5 hrs/week). Students engaged in either peer dialogue assessment or dialogue provided by an academic at the completion of each concurrent teaching session with their respective peer group or academic. Both feedback groups exhibited equivalent and significant improvements in teaching self-efficacy, teaching competence and teaching confidence. This study provides support for embedding formative assessment tasks in an authentic teaching environment in undergraduate physical education courses, and using dialogical feedback (peer or academic) to facilitate reflection and furthering learning in this context.

Using conversation analysis to explore feedback on resident performance

Feedback on clinical performance of residents is seen as a fundamental element in postgraduate medical education. Although literature on feedback in medical education is abundant, many supervisors struggle with providing this feedback and residents experience feedback as insufficiently constructive. With a detailed analysis of real-world feedback conversations, this study aims to contribute to the current literature by deepening the understanding of how feedback on residents’ performance is provided, and to formulate recommendations for improvement of feedback practice. Eight evaluation meetings between program directors and residents were recorded in 2015–2016. These meetings were analyzed using conversation analysis. This is an ethno-methodological approach that uses a data-driven, iterative procedure to uncover interactional patterns that structure naturally occurring, spoken interaction. Feedback in our data took two forms: feedback as a unidirectional activity and feedback as a dialogic activity. The unidirectional feedback activities prevailed over the dialogic activities. The two different formats elicit different types of resident responses and have different implications for the progress of the interaction. Both feedback formats concerned positive as well as negative feedback and both were often mitigated by the participants. Unidirectional feedback and mitigating or downplaying feedback is at odds with the aim of feedback in medical education. Dialogic feedback avoids the pitfall of a program director-dominated conversation and gives residents the opportunity to take ownership of their strengths and weaknesses, which increases chances to change resident behavior. On the basis of linguistic analysis of our real-life data we suggest implications for feedback conversations.

'I'm never going to change unless someone tells me I need to': fostering feedback dialogue between general practice supervisors and registrars

Feedback is often unidirectional and focused on learners receiving feedback. Learning relationships are viewed as influential to promoting feedback dialogue. The aim of this study was to explore factors that facilitate or impede feedback between general practice supervisors and registrars. An in-depth qualitative study was conducted. Data collection featured semistructured interviews with registrars (n = 9) and supervisors (n = 5). Interviews were audio recorded and analysed interpretatively. Feedback was affected by personal (i.e. resilience, humility), relational (i.e. strength of supervisory relationship, power differentials) and contextual (i.e. culture) factors. Registrars are not accustomed to providing feedback and supervisors do not typically request feedback. Past feedback experiences affect registrar engagement in feedback exchanges. A culture of feedback dialogue within training organisations and training practices is essential. Power imbalance needs to be addressed, particularly for feedback by registrars. Strategies to develop feedback skills and promote an open feedback culture are essential.

Teaching research writing at exit-level undergraduate programmes in South Africa

Not enough writing support is being provided to Baccalaureus Technologiae (BTech) students in vocational-intensive universities in South Africa. Even worse, not enough research is being done to investigate the writing attitudes of BTech students or how their lecturers support them in writing-intensive subjects. This view represents an unfair and a discriminatory approach to providing learning support to BTech students. This paper explores the use of dialogical formative feedback in the teaching of research writing to BTech students in a health sciences department at a university of technology in South Africa. The paper uses Engestrom’s (1987) concept of an activity system in cultural-historical activity theory (CHAT) and Boud and Molloy’s (2013a, 2013b) dialogical feedback approach to examine how formative feedback is being negotiated in a class of 14 Dental Technology students at a university of technology. Qualitative data was collected through focus group interviews, and from the written feedback in the students’ assignment drafts. This data is read diffractively using Activity theory, and dialogical feedback approach. This diffractive approach enables one to use theories to challenge hegemonic, discriminatory, and often unproductive models of feedback support in the teaching of research writing to students in difficult and uneven conditions. By diffractively reading practitioners’ thoughts and actions iteratively over time through the relational ontological frameworks of activity theory and dialogical feedback, this paper proposes a breakaway from the formal, prosaic, linear, and bureaucratic approach of giving feedback to students’ writing which often does not impact student learning.

The use of exemplars in English writing classrooms: from theory to practice

Recent literature on the use of exemplars in the context of higher education has shown that exemplar-based instruction is implemented in various disciplines; nevertheless, how exemplar-based instruction can be implemented in English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) writing classrooms in higher education institutions remains under-explored. In this connection, this article reports on a textbook development project which adopts an exemplar-based instruction approach to be used by university English instructors to prepare students for IELTS writing (academic module). The goal of the textbook is to cultivate students’ understanding of the assessment standards of the two IELTS writing tasks through the design and use of exemplar-based dialogic and reflective activities. In this article, theoretical underpinnings of the use of exemplars, namely tacit knowledge, assessment as learning and dialogic feedback, will first be discussed in detail. Then, an overview of an ongoing project which aims to develop an exemplar-based IELTS writing textbook will be given. The last section of this article suggests practical strategies for ESL writing teachers who are interested in using exemplars to develop students’ understanding of assessment standards.

A review of educational dialogue strategies to improve academic writing skills

Written feedback plays a key role in the acquisition of academic writing skills. Ideally, this feedback should include feed up, feed back and feed forward. However, written feedback alone is not enough to improve writing skills; students often struggle to interpret the feedback received and enhance their writing skills accordingly. Several studies have suggested that dialogue about written feedback is essential to promote the development of these skills. Yet, evidence of the effectiveness of face-to-face dialogue remains inconclusive. To bring this evidence into focus, we conducted a literature review of face-to-face dialogue intervention studies. The emphasis was on key elements of the interventions and outcomes in terms of student perceptions and other indicators, and the methodological characteristics of the studies. Subsequently, we analysed each selected intervention for the presence of feed-up, feed-back and feed-forward information. Most interventions used all three feedback elements – notably assessment criteria, student feedback, and revision, respectively – and combined lecturer–student as well as student–student dialogue. Students generally perceived the interventions as beneficial; they appreciated criteria and exemplars because they clarified what was expected of them and how they would be assessed. With regard to student outcomes, most interventions positively affected performance. The literature review suggests that feedback dialogue shows promise as an intervention to improve academic writing skills, but also call for future research into why and under which specific conditions face-to-face dialogue is effective.