Abstract:

Many studies on the role and effectiveness of teachers’ feedback in improving students’ work have been conducted but the issue regarding the effectiveness of teachers’ feedback is still controversial. As Mitchell (1994, p.194) stated, “a grade alone is not enough to indicate to students what is weak”. Nevertheless, how teachers give feedback and in what way students can benefit are as important in order not to waste the effort of teachers and to ensure students can learn. To examine the use of feedback and explore how feedback works, many of the past studies elicited opinions from both teachers and students finding out if they had similar or different perceptions regarding the use and importance of feedback, particularly feedback on students’ writing. Some showed that teachers’ feedback is not effective (Searle, & Dillon, 1980; Freedman, 1984; Zamel, 1985; Leki, 1990; Reid, 1994; Frankenburg-Garcia, 1999) whereas teachers’ contribution and effort were recognized in some other studies (Freedam, 1985; Chandrasegaran, 1986; Beason, 1993; Ferris, 1997).

Giving feedback is one of the important criteria for assessing the effectiveness of a teacher, along with preparation of classes, assessments, delivery of lessons, etc. It is also one of the items in the Student Feedback Questionnaire (SFQ) indicating the importance of giving feedback in facilitating teaching and learning. I have been rated particularly high regarding the quality of feedback to students. Yet what exactly students are satisfied or not satisfied with is not clear. In addition, an examination of students’ exact improvement with the help of the teacher’s feedback may also be as meaningful which can inform ESL teachers of what to focus on when giving comments and how students can learn and benefit.

The purpose of the present study is two-fold – to explore university students’ perception about the importance and use of feedback, and to investigate how exactly they make use of teachers’ feedback to improve their work. The study is significant in helping ESL teachers understand the direction and ways of giving feedback and in return benefit students as their needs can be catered for more appropriately.