Personality and Feedback Effectiveness: More Conscientious Students Benefit More From Feedback Matching Their Performance

• In Event: Beyond One-Size-Fits-All: Individual Differences in Feedback Perceptions, Use, and Effectiveness

Abstract

Objectives
Students’ conscientiousness is recognized as one of the best predictors of learning behavior but is rarely investigated within feedback contexts. It can be assumed that more conscientious students show more beneficial behaviors in feedback situations, leading to beneficial learning outcomes. Such effects might be amplified when feedback contains information that match students’ current performance, implementing feedback would result in an effective learning opportunity. However, despite best efforts from educators, feedback can differ in the fit to students’ performance. Hence, the present study investigates the role of students’ conscientiousness when working with feedback, and the moderating role of feedback fit to students’ performance level.
Theoretical Framework
Feedback is the information to close the gap between students current and target performance (Hattie & Timperley, 2007), and therefore need to fit to students’ current performance. Feedback intervention theory (Kluger & Denisi, 1996) assumes that feedback effectiveness can relate to students’ personality because students engage differently with the same feedback. A central personality characteristic for feedback usage can be assumed to be students’ conscientiousness as a central predictor of school achievement (Meyer et al., 2023) and active engagement in learning situations (Gray & Watson, 2002). Conscientious students are especially careful, thoughtful, and organized which is why they might profit more from learning opportunities such as feedback (John & Naumann, 2008).
Method
We carried out an experiment on 1836 students (grades 9-13; 42.7% female, mean age 16.36 years [SD = 1.47]) to study the interplay between students’ conscientiousness, the fit of feedback to their performance, and feedback effectiveness in terms of performance, motivation, and perceived usefulness. We implemented an experimental study testing the effect of four feedback messages including hints to improve key feature of argumentative writing (e.g., taking a clear standpoint, include a decision-making strategy) in a between-subject design (see Figure 1 for the procedure). After the study, two trained raters assessed students draft performance and we determined based how much the feedback did fit students’ performance.
Results
The study results revealed a significant positive effect of conscientiousness for revision performance (β = .178, p <.001), interest change (β = .113, p <.05), and perceived usefulness (β = .158, p <.001). For adaptivity of information, we found no primary effects (β = .058/.060/.063). A notable interaction was found between novelty of feedback information and conscientiousness (β =.315, p <.001, Figure 2) for revision performance, but not for interest change (β = -.023) and perceived usefulness (β = .008). More conscientious students benefitted more from feedback that fit their performances.
Significance
The study emphasizes the complex interaction between student and feedback characteristics and support the idea that more conscious students show superior learning behavior because the use learning opportunities more effectively. Further, we show that optimizing feedback fit is only beneficial if students have the necessary conscientiousness to use it. This suggests a one-size-fits-all feedback strategy may not be optimal, and approaches tailored to individual student characteristics may offer greater benefits, fostering a more personalized and effective approach to enhancing student writing performance.

Authors

• Thorben Jansen, Leibniz Institute for Science and Mathematics Education

• Lars Höft, DIPF | Leibniz Institute for Research and Information in Education

• Jan Luca Bahr, Leibniz Institute for Science and Mathematics Education

• Jennifer Meyer, University of Vienna