“Criticism, like rain, should be gentle enough to nourish a man’s growth without destroying his roots” Frank A. Clark. Actions such as pointing out the mistakes of students can lead to a feeling of frustration and indifference from students towarddevelopment of their skills(Williams, 2003). Frequently when students receive feedback from teachers, they feel frustrated because they think that they are not doing a good job. However, receiving feedback should be seen as a positive incentive for students to develop their skills. Giving feedback to students helps to improve their writing skill because it increases student self-confidence, their enthusiasm for learning and their self-awareness.
Students increase their self-confidence when they receive feedback from teachers about their written assignments. It is fundamental to have effective feedback in a lesson because in this way students realize that it is a fundamental part of their learning process and without it, they could not learn in the same way (Brookhart, 2017). Receiving feedback helps students to become more confident about their work and as a consequence, they start improving their performance. After the teacher provides good feedback to students, their self-confidence increases and it low their anxiety about making mistakes (Badami, VaezMousavi, Wulf & Namazizadeh, 2012). When students receive feedback about what they are doing right they feel more interested in improving their performance.
Giving feedback to learners helps them to be more motivated to learn and to improve while they are writing. Students who receive feedback show more motivation and effort than those who do not receive it (Schunk, 1991). Receiving feedback increase the motivation of students towards the accomplishment of their assignments since they learn what their strengths and weaknesses are, and it encourages them to keep improving. When teachers give feedback to students, teachers must correct their mistakes but at the same time, they must give positive comments to their work for students to know that they are making some progress. Moreover, when students are given feedback, they improve their skills because they learn about things they must avoid and things they must do while writing.
Teachers help students to be aware of their errors by providing them with feedback. Giving constant feedback to students allow them to identify what are the things they need to improve and correct them by themselves (Gigante, Dell, & Sharkey, 2011). Asking for feedback benefits students because with the comments they receive from teachers, students realize what their strengths and weaknesses are, and they take actions to improve. Once students realize what their weaknesses are, it is easier for them to be aware of what they need to develop while writing. If students receive feedback constantly then they will develop skills to identify for themselves the mistakes they make, based on the previous comments of the teachers.
Feedback is an important tool for the teachers to help them to increase their self-confidence, their self-awareness and to motivate them. Receiving feedback is helpful for students not only because they can correct their mistakes and have a better performance but because it increases their motivation. Teachers must find a way to give effective feedback without making feel students frustrated. Also, teachers should make corrections to students, but they have to make sure that they give positive feedback. Students could take advantage of the comments of teachers while they are giving feedback because it is a way to help them to improve.
Badami, R., VaezMousavi, M., Wulf, G., & Namazizadeh, M. (2012). Feedback about more accurate versus less accurate trials: Differential effects on self-confidence and activation. Research quarterly for exercise and sport, 83(2), 196-203. Retrieved from. https://doi.org/10.1080/02701367.2012.10599850
Brookhart, S. M. (2017). How to give effective feedback to your students. ASCD. Retrieved from. https://books.google.com.mx/books?hl=en&lr=&id=uttODgAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA1&dq=giving+effective+feedback+to+students&ots=PRRklv5JWL&sig=ZCZ1pJbXuhlfhX8MEpDXdg6oJ6o&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=giving effective feedback to students&f=false
Gigante, J., Dell, M., & Sharkey, A. (2011). Getting beyond “good job”: How to give effective feedback. Pediatrics, 127(2), 205-207. Retrieved from. https://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/127/2/205.short
Schunk, D. H. (1991). Self-efficacy and academic motivation. Educational psychologist, 26(3-4), 207-231. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1080/00461520.1991.9653133
Williams, J. G. (2003). Providing feedback on ESL students’ written assignments. The Internet TESL Journal, 9(10), 1-5. Retrieved from. http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Williams-Feedback.html
Problem Statement
I wish to learn more about feedback because I want to find out why is it helpful for students to improve their writing skills in order to demonstrate the importance of giving feedback to students.
I wish to learn more about feedback because I want to find out why is it helpful for students to improve their writing skills in order to demonstrate the importance of giving feedback to students.