Written feedback on high-stakes assessment has the potential to provide students with valuable advice for future assessment episodes, but when feedback has a negative impact on students’ emotions, it can negate any benefits. This exploratory study reports on the perceptions of 14 lecturers and 19 students regarding their emotions toward written assessment feedback within a university preparatory program for students at a regional university in Australia. Focus groups were used to collect data from the participants. The data were analysed with NVivo Version 11 software. The data were further analysed by the authors, who identified and categorised phrases pertaining to students’ and lecturers’ emotions about feedback. The study found that lecturers and students had mixed feelings about written feedback, especially when personal connections between lecturers, other staff, and students were tenuous. It concluded that further research focusing on the impact of emotions on how students perceive written feedback and apply it in future assessments could provide insights into how to enhance contemporary tertiary teaching and assessment practices.
Dowden et al. (Mon,) studied this question.