INSIDE DOUGLAS COLLEGE / NOVEMBER 13, 1990

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made in light of the contextual constraints. The ques-
tion then becomes: “How can [as an instructor best
match the level of feedback I give to my students with
their need for feedback in a particular situation, given
the realistic constraints on my time and instructional
resources?” The question of when and what level of
feedback a student or a group of students needs seems
to depend on a large number of factors. Because
considering every variable that could affect these
decisions is unreasonable, guidelines are needed to
help make these decisions. These guidelines are based
on four factors that have a large impact on the type of
feedback that is optimal in a given instructional setting.
These four factors include: 1) whether or not the stu-
dents have given correct or incorrect answers; 2) the
students’ level of confidence in themselves as students
and in the particular responses that they gave; 3) how
much prior knowledge and/or experience the students
have with this particular type of test or assessment
method; and 4) how much prior knowledge and/or
experience the students have with this particular topic
area. Using these factors as criteria, we can begin to
discuss when a particular level of feedback would be
most appropriate or useful to students.

Level 1 feedback appears to be most useful when
students have given a correct answer, feel confident
about their answer, are familiar with this type of test or
assessment method, and have a good background in
the particular topic area. In this situation the students
are correct, they thought they would be correct, they
are familiar with this method of assessment, and
because of their background knowledge they know
why that particular answer was correct. In that situ-
ation, information about what the correct answer is and
why it is correct would be somewhat redundant. In
addition, because the students’ answer was correct,
there is nothing to diagnose; hence, you assume that
the strategies they used were effective.

On the other hand, if the answers were wrong, but
the students felt confident and had good prior knowl-
edge of both this type of test and the content area, the
students would need at least Level 3 and possibly
Level 4 feedback. Level 3 feedback would be impor-
tant because it would help the students to diagnose
where they went wrong on this particular question, or
type of question, as well as inform them of the correct
answer. Then, depending on the nature of the prob-
lem, the teacher and student(s) could determine the
need for a review of the strategies or discussion and
practice with additional strategies.

If a student was not confident in her resporf@e, it
would seem that being correct or incorrect would not

negate the need for feedback beyond Level 1. Being
correct but not confident would indicate some question
in her mind that would necessitate at least Level 3 in- e_
formation about what was the correct answer and why.
Thus, if she was correct, Level 3 feedback would help
her to increase her confidence by giving her additional
information about what was the best answer and why.
Whereas if she was not confident and not correct, at
least Level 2 and probably Level 4 feedback would be
needed. This would be even more important if stu-
dents did not have a lot of background knowledge in
the particular topic area.

In terms of prior knowledge of assessment method
or content area, the general rule of thumb would be the
less prior knowledge and experience the students have,
the more the need for Level 4 feedback. In addition, as
the students’ level of experience increases, the task of
diagnosing problems and selecting future strategies
should become more self-directed. Therefore, part of
the instructor’s task related to giving feedback is the
transference of control of the diagnosis of problems,
and the selection of future strategies, to the students
themselves.

Summary

Test feedback is an important part of the teaching
and learning process. It involves, among other things,
collecting information about students’ performance,
their level of confidence in their performance, their
familiarity with the type of test or assessment method, New’
and their background knowledge. By taking this
information into consideration, the instructor can
determine what level of feedback would be most useful
for their students on a particular test, topic, or ques-
tion. This process can help the instructor to design and
deliver appropriate feedback at an appropriate time
which provides students with information and strate-
gies needed to improve their academic performance on
future tests, or other assessment measures.

 

;
Paul A. Schutz, Assistant Professor, Educational Founda-
tions

Claire E. Weinstein, Professor, Educational Psychology

For further information, contact author Paul Schutz at
the University of Arkansas, GEB 247, Fayetteville, AR
72701 or Claire E. Weinstein at The University of Texas
at Austin, EDB 352, Austin, TX 78712.

 

Suanne D. Roueche, Editor

October 5, 1990, Vol. XII, No. 22

©The University of Texas at Austin, 1990
Further duplication is permitted by MEMBER
institutions for their own personnel.

 

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