Generalizations from Classroom Instruction That Works
The authors of Classroom Instruction That Works gleaned four generalizations about feedback from the research.
1. Feedback should be corrective in nature. The more information you can provide on what is correct and what is incorrect about a student’s oral or written responses, the better. This can be helpful to ELLs, but not when correcting their grammatical errors or their articulation mistakes. As discussed above, the best way to provide corrective feedback when grammar or pronunciation errors are made is simply to model the correct English without overtly calling attention to the error.
2. Feedback should be timely. Timing can be critical for ELLs, particularly when you are offering feedback by verbally modeling correct grammar or pronunciation.
3. Feedback should be criterion-referenced. The research indicates that using criterion-referenced feedback is better than using norm referenced feedback. In other words, telling students how they are progressing in learning specific types of knowledge and skills is better than giving them a score reflecting the number of correct answers. The practice of using rubrics, a method of providing criterion referenced feedback, is especially helpful for ELLs.
4. Students can effectively provide some of their own feedback through self-evaluation. ELLs can monitor their own progress in learning English and subject matter by keeping track of their performance as language and academic learning occurs.
