What kind of feedback on writing is best for multilingual students who may still be acquiring English? Feedback that reflects the purpose of a given writing assignment helps all students grow as writers. For multilingual learners of English, it’s especially important to support their continued learning of academic language by focusing on developing ideas and understanding course content.
Feedback and assignment purposes
Feedback on student writing is not a generic, one-size-fits-all pedagogical tool. Appropriate feedback, no matter the student’s first language, depends first and foremost on the purpose of the writing assignment.
If the assignment is a journal entry with the purpose of reflecting on ideas from a course reading, feedback examples might include “I like how you have connected these ideas to your own experiences” or “I see how you have found some important differences between the reading from this week and from last week. That is great! What do you think might explain why they took such different approaches?” If the writing is a first-draft of a research abstract, the feedback would be quite different: “This a great, concise summary of your findings, but remember to include a sentence on your methods first” or “Remember that in our discipline, the abstract is written in the present tense.”
Similarly, the assessment criteria, in the form of a rubric or assignment requirements, should reflect the purpose of the text. If the course learning objectives do not include English grammar and mechanics, instructors should ask themselves whether grammar and mechanics belong on a course assignment rubric. For learners of English as an additional language, this can present a huge barrier to success, as they are still acquiring many aspects of English grammar. If a course learning objective is to write a clear lab report, elements deemed truly necessary for clarity should be made explicit to students in the assignment guidelines and assessment criteria.
Course learning objectives, assignment guidelines, rubrics, and feedback that provide opportunities for student growth and development tend to be most effective and less frustrating for both students and instructors. Growth and development occur primarily when students (1) write multiple drafts of the same assignment (e.g., focus in draft 1 on supporting your main point, in draft 2 on organizing, in draft 3 on clarifying) or (2) build on or repurpose assignments (e.g., a journal entry becomes a first draft, an annotated bibliography becomes an essay, a research project becomes a presentation).
When students are asked to revise or build on past work, they have opportunities to focus on one part of the writing process at a time, which helps cement understanding of key concepts and not become overwhelmed with things to “fix.” This is true for all students, but it is particularly important for those multilingual students who have less experience writing in English.
Revision helps at all stages of the writing process. During the initial stages, students have time and a place to note down their ideas with less anxiety about “perfection” of language. They can experiment or take risks with language if they know they are not being graded on it, risks that are critical to the language development process. From one draft to the next, they receive feedback from fellow students and/or the instructor. This ensures a time and place to address that feedback immediately in the following draft. When feedback is targeted to one particular area (e.g., support for ideas), it is less overwhelming for students, and can feasibly be implemented before the next draft. The final draft is an opportunity to clarify their ideas through effective language use.
When students can implement feedback directly and immediately, they have real opportunities for learning and growth, and students ultimately feel they are participating in academic conversations within the discipline.
In contrast, suggestions for improvement without opportunity for revision or immediate use are most often discouraging and of little pedagogical value. Feedback intended to improve student writing generally (e.g., “Here are some examples of run-ons that you should try to avoid in the future”) is rarely remembered from one assignment to the next unless the instructor has built in a connection with the course assignment (e.g., “Use your letter to the editor to build a case for your research proposal.”)
What’s your first step? You can explore the resources in this workshop handout and critically examine your writing assignments and rubrics. How clear are the purposes of those assignments for meeting course learning outcomes? How well do your grading rubrics and evaluating criteria reflect those purposes? You can also watch for writing-, assessment-, or multilingual-related CTL workshops or contact English Language Support Programs for individual guidance.
References
- WAC [Writing across the Curriculum] and Second-Language Writers, especially chapters 7 and 8.
- An outstanding set of guidelines for faculty, part 1 and part 2, by Karen Best, from the University of Wisconsin-Madison
Workshop Resource Document
Find the link to more resources here.
Written by:
Gail Shuck and Nicole Brun-Mercer