Feedback on learning achievement: rhetoric and reality

Assessment theorists and academics alike espouse the importance of feedback on performance assessment tasks for supporting improvement and progress in student learning achievement. Despite these espoused ideals, students claim a lack of adequate, timely feedback and their teachers claim that students fail to heed the advice given. This paper reports observations of experienced academics’ thinking while they assess their students’ learning products. It focuses in particular academics’ written feedback on their students’ written assignments, and compares this ‘actual practice’ with the same academics’ personal practical ‘espoused theories and practice’ about feedback. This snapshot of ‘everyday’ academic practice is considered in the theoretical context of what constitutes feedback that promotes learning.