What Do Teachers Say to English Learners About Their Writing? Oral Feedback in Writing Instruction for the Common Core

• In Event: From No Child Left Behind to Common Core: How Do New Standards Affect Practices and Policies for English Learners?

Abstract

Purpose
This study traces teachers’ oral feedback to ELs across mainstream and English Language Development (ELD) contexts during writing instruction designed to meet the demands of the CCSS. Specifically, I asked (1) What is the content and quantity of oral feedback English Learners (ELs) receive in mainstream and ELD classrooms? (2) How is this feedback similar or different from the oral feedback English Only students receive in mainstream classrooms? (3) To what extent does teachers’ feedback support students in meeting the demands of the CCSS?
Theoretical Framework
The writing standards of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) present complex language and literacy demands and will be particularly challenging for ELs (Bunch, 2013). Teacher feedback is a potentially powerful way to support ELs in meeting these ambitious new goals (Hattie, 2008). Studies of feedback in writing instruction have generally focused on written feedback with secondary and post-secondary students, finding a focus on surface-level features rather than students’ ideas (e.g., Cohen, 1987), patterns which may be particularly true for ELs (Matsumura, Patthey-Chavez, Valdés, & Garnier, 2002). Despite a growing body of work advocating for frequent, specific, and substantive feedback as part of formative assessment (e.g. Frey & Fisher, 2011), we know very little about teachers’ daily oral feedback during writing instruction, particularly for elementary ELs.
Methods and Data Sources
Data sources include transcripts of 36 audio and video-recorded observations of six fourth grade teachers (four mainstream and two ELD teachers), as well as language proficiency, student achievement, and demographic data. Through open coding (Strauss & Corbin, 1998), categories were established to capture teacher and student moves in relation to the content of the interaction, the nature of the feedback (e.g., descriptive vs. evaluative), the mode of delivery (e.g., a directive vs. a question), and the quantity of feedback utterances. Feedback patterns were then analyzed within and across classrooms, and by students’ language proficiency and literacy achievement.
Findings
Data analysis revealed substantial differences in feedback patterns between individual teachers and instructional contexts. In keeping with conclusions from previous studies of EL classrooms, ELD teachers’ feedback largely focused on mechanics or grammar. They also praised students almost five times more than mainstream teachers. In mainstream classrooms, teachers’ feedback practices varied more widely, though EL students received proportionately less feedback than English-only students (perhaps because ELs initiated fewer feedback interactions), and ELs received fewer substantive comments about writing style and genre that students could use to build their writing skills beyond the task.
Scholarly Significance
These findings suggest that oral feedback practices are key sources of variation in teachers’ writing instruction and that instructional contexts may play a role in this variation. I argue that teachers’ feedback may differentially support students in meeting the increased demands of the CCSS, and, over time, may contribute to inequitable writing instruction within classrooms. These findings highlight the need for greater development of teachers’ feedback practices, particularly for teachers of ELs across instructional contexts.

Author

• Lorien Chambers Schuldt, Fort Lewis College