Providing productive feedback

Many teachers find marking to be a tedious and unrewarding chore. While it is a crucial aspect of the classroom writing process, our diligent attention and careful comments only rarely seem to bring about improvements in subsequent work. To ensure that marking becomes an effective tool in our teaching programmes, then, we must persuade students to act on the feedback we provide. The alternative feedback methods suggested here offer explicit information about teacher expectations and encourage students to go back and reassess their work. ‘Minimal marking’ and taped commentary can therefore be considered as ‘interactive’ feedback styles.