Understanding the Feedback Teachers Give: A Look at Teachers' Epistemologies Around Writing Instruction and Feedback

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Abstract

Researchers and practitioners agree that timely, specific feedback is vital to learning to write. However, less is known about how teachers’ conceptualize what students need during oral feedback interactions. This qualitative case-study study focuses on two teachers’ epistemologies, analyzing their goals for students, the task and their feedback in relation to the oral feedback they provided. The study found that these teachers, even when following the same curriculum closely, prioritized different aspects of the task and held different goals for students. While similar in terms of length of interaction and teacher moves, their feedback mirrored their individual priorities in terms of an emphasis on structure vs. ideas. Implications for practitioners and future research directions are discussed.

Author

• Lorien Chambers Schuldt, Fort Lewis College