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Instr Sci (2009) 37:375401 DOI 10.1007/s11251-008-9053-x
Melissa M. Nelson Christian D. Schunn
Received: 27 July 2007 / Accepted: 19 March 2008 / Published online: 4 April 2008 Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2008
Abstract Although providing feedback is commonly practiced in education, there is no general agreement regarding what type of feedback is most helpful and why it is helpful. This study examined the relationship between various types of feedback, potential internal mediators, and the likelihood of implementing feedback. Five main predictions were developed from the feedback literature in writing, specically regarding feedback features (summarization, identifying problems, providing solutions, localization, explanations, scope, praise, and mitigating language) as they relate to potential causal mediators of problem or solution understanding and problem or solution agreement, leading to the nal outcome of feedback implementation. To empirically test the proposed feedback model, 1,073 feedback segments from writing assessed by peers was analyzed. Feedback was collected using SWoRD, an online peer review system. Each segment was coded for each of the feedback features, implementation, agreement, and understanding. The correlations between the feedback features, levels of mediating variables, and implementation rates revealed several signicant relationships. Understanding was the only signicant mediator of implementation. Several feedback features were associated with understanding: including solutions, a summary of the performance, and the location of the problem were associated with increased understanding; and explanations of problems were associated with decreased understanding. Implications of these results are discussed.
Keywords Feedback Writing Peer-review Summary Solution
Localization Explanation Understanding Feedback implementation
M. M. Nelson (&)
Learning Research and Development Center, University of Pittsburgh, 3939 OHara Street, Room 820, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USAe-mail: [email protected]
C. D. Schunn
Learning Research and Development Center, University of Pittsburgh, 3939 OHara Street, Room 821, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USAe-mail: [email protected]
The nature of feedback: how different types of peer feedback affect writing performance
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376 M. M. Nelson, C. D. Schunn
Introduction
Although giving feedback is a generally accepted practice in educational settings, specic features of effective feedback, such as the complexity (i.e., more versus less information) and timing (i.e., immediate versus delayed) of feedback, have been largely disputed (see Mory 2004; 1996 for review). Moreover, for a complex task such as writing, the conditions that inuence feedback effectiveness are likely to be correspondingly...