Feeding back to feed forward

Sherran Clarence28 May 2012

sclarence@uwc.ac.za

Internal and external feedback

What are some of the common things writers struggle with?

• Low confidence levels – are my ideas good enough?

• Lack of direction – where am I going with these ideas?

• Staying on track – the literature keeps taking me somewhere else…

• Writer’s block – my fingers won’t type/write!• Distractions – let me just check my

email/Facebook/Twitter quickly…

All writers need feedback

Why do writers need feedback?

• Can help you to clarify your ideas and see where the gaps are

• Can help you to understand what you are doing well and where you still need to do some work

• Can encourage and motivate you• Can get you to your next steps as a writer, and

help fend off long bouts of writer’s block• Can challenge and extend you as a writer

Different goals with feedback

Formative feedback• given throughout the

written piece and speaks very closely to the criteria against which it has been written

• designed to be encouraging and informative

• detailed and descriptive

Summative feedback• comes at the end of a piece

of work – usually provides a more general comment on the quality of the writing

• can be detailed but not usually

• normally more general rather than detailed in nature

Feedback or Feedforward?

• Good feedback feeds forward (see Lillis 2001; Deyi 2011 among others)

• This means it moves the writer beyond what they have written and helps them to the next steps in their process

• It provides reasons for what is working and what is not• It looks at purpose and understanding in terms of

meeting set criteria, rather than only rules and basic guidance – it talks about why as well as how to, rather than just how to

• It gives the writer the space to make informed choices about their writing

What does good feedback do?

Provides guidance

Motivates

Provides reasons for what works and what doesn’t

Gives clear

critique

Promotes progress

Enables reflection

Gives encouragement

Some practical tips

• Put yourself in the role of a critical friend – a reader who can give advice and guidance from that perspective

• Read a whole section through before you comment rather than commenting line by line or paragraph by paragraph

• Try to find reasons (whys) for what is working and what is not – rather than just saying what works and does not.

• Try to give advice that gives the writer choices about where to go with their writing