The document discusses problems that students have with feedback for self-regulated writing and proposes solutions. It notes that students often have different goals than what is needed to complete writing tasks well. Feedback is sometimes too vague for students to understand how their work did not meet standards or know how to improve. The document also suggests that feedback should provide specific strategies for bridging the gap between current and successful performance, while also being applicable to future assignments and not overwhelming students.

1. Feedback on writing:
concerns, suggestions
Christina Hendricks
Philosophy, UBC
November 21, 2013

2. Helping students become self-
regulated writers
Nicol & Macfarlane-Dick (2006)
• Self-regulation: students set goals to be reached, have effective strategies for
achieving them, and the ability to put those strategies into effect.
• Students must know:
1. what good performance is (i.e. the student must possess a concept of the
goal or standard being aimed for);
2. how current performance relates to good performance (for this, the student
must be able to compare current and good performance);
3. how to act to close the gap between current and good performance. (these
three points quoted from Nicol & Macfarlane-Dick 2006, p. 204; referring to
Sadler (1989))

3. Problems in feedback for
self-regulation
Goals set by students for their work differ from those needed
to complete the task well
• Suggestions: written descriptions of criteria & standards,
examples of work that does/does not live up to them,
peer review to evaluate others’ work on criteria (Nicol &
Macfarlane-Dick 2006, p. 206)

4. Problems in feedback for
self-regulation
Students don’t understand how their work hasn’t lived
up to goals
‣ Feedback too vague, not enough detail (Weaver, 2006;
Walker, 2009; Carless, 2006)
‣ Students don’t see how feedback applies to their work
‣ Students don’t understand feedback (Walker, 2009)
• Example: “too much description, not enough analysis”
(Chanock, 2000)

5. Problems in feedback for
self-regulation
Students don’t know how to bridge gap between current
work and successful performance
‣ Need feedback that gives specific suggestions for
improvement on future work (Weaver, 2006; Carless,
2006)
‣ Feedback should be related to goals/standards/criteria,
and show how students’ work reaches or falls short of
those (Nicol and Macfarlane-Dick, 2006)
• Marking rubrics may be helpful for this

6. Problems in feedback for
self-regulation
Students are unable to use feedback to improve future
assignments
‣ Not enough feedback that can be transferred to later work;
most or all is focused on particular assignment (Lizzio &
Wilson, 2008)
‣ Too many comments; students overwhelmed (Nicol &
Macfarlane-Dick, 2006; Lunsford, 1997)
‣ Too much negative feedback demoralizing; positive feedback
vague while negative specific (Weaver, 2006)
‣ Feedback comes too late to be used on later work

7. Discussion
• What do you do when providing feedback on student work
that you think is effective (or not)?
• What one or two things will you take away from all this to
use in giving feedback in the future?

8. Works cited
Carless, D. (2006). Differing perceptions in the feedback process. Studies in Higher Education, 31(2), 219-233.
Chanock, K. (2000). Comments on essays: Do students understand what tutors write? Teaching in Higher
Education, 5(1), 95-105.
Lizzio, A. and Wilson, K. (2008). Feedback on assessment: Students’ perceptions of quality and effectiveness.
Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, 33(3), 263-275.
Lunsford, R.F. (1997). When less is more: Principles for responding in the disciplines. New Directions For Teaching
and Learning, 69, 91-104.
Nicol, D.J. and Macfarlane-Dick, D. (2006). Formative assessment and self-regulated learning: a model and seven
principles of good feedback practice. Studies in Higher Education, 31(2), 199-218.
Sadler, D.R. (1989). Formative assessment and the design of instructional systems. Instructional Science, 18, 119-
144.
Walker, M. (2009). An investigation into written comments on assignments: do students find them usable?
Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, 34(1), 67-78.
Weaver, M.R. (2006). Do students value feedback? Student perceptions of tutors’ written responses. Assessment
and Evaluation in Higher Education, 31(3), 379-394.