Quick Guide: "A Circle of Response: Teacher feedback on student
papers as exchange
rather than correction"
April Carothers, Chemeketa Community College
Full Article Follows the Quick Guide
Teacher comments
should:
- Invite the student into the writing community: students can accept their role as novices if they feel safe to take risks, so feedback should be encouraging and respectful.
- Help the student feel like a writer: address students by name; encourage students to consider ways to share their work publicly.
- Teach students to pay attention to the choices they make as writers: point out effective techniques they are already using; point out one or two patterns of error per paper.
NOTE: A paper that is struggling badly needs LESS feedback. An A paper deserves feedback too: there has to be something the student could keep working on.
Referenced Articles:
Horning, Alice
and Jeanie Robertson. “Basic Writers and Revision.” Reference Guide to Revision History, Theory, and Practice. Ed.
Alice Horning and Anne Becker. Colorado:
Parlor Press and the WAC Clearinghouse, 2006. 22 February 2007. Web.
Sommers, Nancy.
“Across the Drafts.” “Re-Visions: Rethinking Nancy Sommers’s ‘Responding to
Student Writing,’ 1982.” Ed. Deborah H. Holdstein. College Composition and
Communication 58.2 (December 2006): 246- 66.
---. HWP Harvard
Writing Project Bulletin. Special Issue: Responding to Student Writing. The
President and Fellows of Harvard
College, 2000.
---. Laura Saltz.
“The Novice as Expert.” College Composition and Communication 56.1
(September 2004): 124- 149.
---. “Shaped by
Writing: The Undergraduate Experience. A brief guide to the film.” Insert. Across the Drafts and Shaped by Writing (same disk). DVD. The
President and Fellows of Harvard
College, 2005. The
Harvard Study of Undergraduate Writing. 2002. 1 July 2008.
For More Reading:
Carothers, April. “Responding
to Student Writing.” Oregon
State University
WIC Newsletter 18.1 (Fall 2008). <http://wic.oregonstate.edu/newsletter%20pdf/FALL122008.pdf>
---. A Circle of Response: Addressing the Tensions of
Teacher Response to Student Writing. Masters Thesis, Oregon State
University, 2008. <http://hdl.handle.net/1957/9270>
---. A Circle
of Response: Providing Effective Teacher Feedback on Student Texts. VDM
Verlag, 2009.
__________________________________________________________________________
FULL ARTICLE
A Circle of Response: Teacher feedback on student
papers as exchange
rather than correction
April Carothers, Chemeketa Community College
With
so many non-traditional students currently flooding local colleges and
universities, teacher response to student writing becomes more important than
ever. These students enter college believing that they do not belong here, yet
they are determined to succeed because they may have no other choice. They may
even face resistance from some instructors.
A
letter in the April 2010 edition of the Advocate argued that there are still
too many Americans who should not be considered “college material.” This is the
“gatekeeper” mentality Mina Shaughnessy fought in the early seventies when City
College of New York began their open admissions program, which provided
opportunities for a college education to those who had been shut out before.
Today, as then, our colleges are flooded with those who had not previously considered
college and had not prepared for college, many of whom lost their jobs when the
economy took a downturn. Today, as then, we still face the some of the same
teacher resistance toward students who may not fit an ideal we hold in our
heads. Today, as then, it is our job not to judge who belongs but to do our
best to offer all students the opportunity to succeed. Realistically, whether they are prepared for
college or not, they are here, and they are willing to work hard to succeed…
unless someone convinces them they can’t.
To
motivate higher level education to help these students succeed, President
Obama’s Access and Completion Incentive Fund offers monetary incentives to
colleges that not only to provide access to low income, minority, and
non-traditional students, but that manage to retain a certain percentage of
students to completion of their degrees.
In
this climate, teacher attitudes and feedback become more important than ever.
Our role is to welcome them into their new environment and show them how to
thrive here. This paper closely examines how effective feedback can play a
powerful role in student success and retention.
Current Research
The
goal of teacher response has always been to help students become stronger
college writers. The controversy lies in how to accomplish that goal. We believe that students cannot improve unless we show them what they’re doing wrong,
and the question is usually what tone to use as we correct. Questions have been
raised in the past as to how well students react to this correction, and whether
our efforts even make a difference.
Nancy
Sommers directed a Harvard
University study which in
2001 put into words what we’ve been needing to hear: teacher feedback can play
a vital role in student success in college.
It
was invigorating to me to read the results of this study, to read in black and
white what my students have been telling me for years. They appreciate my
comments. My notes on their papers show them that someone read their work and
at least tried to understand what they were communicating. This simple sense of
exchange—they write, I read and write back—has a powerful effect on students.
While
it’s true that our comments are meant to help students improve their writing,
this function is more complex than it sounds. We tend to see this as a matter
of correction: we show students what they are doing wrong, and they fix the
problems… we hope. It seems impossible to believe that students could receive
any constructive benefit from comments that work outside the function of
pointing out problems. Because of this, as teachers, we always feel that we
must fix every mistake, even when we know better. If we fail to point out the
problems, how will the student ever learn to fix them?
The
Harvard Study actually gives us in-depth research to show that improving
student writing isn’t about correction at all: it’s about providing a sense of
exchange. Wait... what? What good is that? The point is to teach them to produce writing that is clear, focused, informative, and error free. What does a "sense of exchange" have to do with any of that? The answer to this question is complicated. We have to first understand what obstacles students face in producing strong writing.
According
to the study, students, especially those new to college, need first to realize
that they belong here and can succeed. They often lack skill in proofreading
their own errors, they lack knowledge of what the language of academia looks
like, and they lack understanding when it comes to the way knowledge is
communicated in college. Our feedback can help develop all of these abilities
when we write comments that model the way colleagues exchange ideas.
Begun
in the fall of 1997, the Harvard Study of Undergraduate Writing followed four
hundred students from their freshman year through graduation in 2001. Through
surveys, interviews with students, and careful analysis of all of their papers,
researchers found that effective teacher response was crucial to student
success at college:
[F]eedback
plays a leading role in undergraduate writing development when, but only when,
students and teachers create a partnership through feedback—a transaction in
which teachers engage with their students by treating them as apprentice
scholars, offering honest critique paired with instruction (Nancy Sommers,
“Across” 250).
What
students need most is not correction
but a sense of exchange, a sense of being involved in a dialog with their
teachers and being a part of the “conversation” taking place in academia. They
need to feel that, even though they are novices, they are members of the
college writing community whose voices matter.
Putting it into practice
When
putting these theories into practice, there is a paradox that must be
addressed: students need to accept their role as novice in the college
community, and teachers need to treat students as members of the college
community. They accept that they are novices; we treat them as if they are not.
As
students enter college and face unfamiliar challenges, teacher response can
provide a bridge toward scholarly thinking and writing. Students may feel like
outsiders or pretenders as they attempt to write for college assignments. What
many don’t realize is that this state is necessary to growth. The Harvard Study
revealed that students who were willing to see themselves as novices and were
able to trust their teachers for guidance built confidence and were better able
to adapt to the different demands of college writing (“Novice” 127).
One
might assume that students new to college understand their role as novice
implicitly, but to become a novice means to admit uncertainty. As Sommers
points out, not all students are willing to accept such a position. This is especially
true of today’s non-traditional students, who are often mature adults who bring
their own experiences and skills with them yet may wonder whether they belong
in college at all. Students who cannot accept the role of novice may feel
alienated by academic discourse and may mask their uncertainty with serious
resistance like arrogance or unresponsiveness. It’s important that instructors
realize that these behaviors may have deeper roots and that teacher comments
can either perpetuate this feeling of alienation or invite students in. College
writing demands that students see further than the conclusions of others, that
they challenge these conclusions and develop their own. Finding their voices in
this new environment is a complex task, and students need first and foremost to
feel safe to take risks and learn new ways of exploring their own ideas
alongside those of the experts.
Feedback
from teachers is key: most effective are comments that are directed at that specific student and paper (HWP 1).
According to the Harvard Study, effective feedback facilitates a student’s
ability to move from “private and idiosyncratic” writing to work that takes
into account the needs of real audiences. Student writers are often limited to
an audience of peers and teachers, so it is vital that teacher feedback models
the reactions of real-world readers, yet in a way that does not damage student
confidence. We resolve this tension by responding like a colleague, one who
adopts an attitude of respect toward the student’s work. In other words, when
teachers react as interested readers.
This
is not to say that there should be no correction or that comments can only
agree with what students have written. In fact, my students demand criticism;
they would never settle for praise alone. Sommers notes that when teacher
feedback points out both weaknesses and strengths, students are encouraged to
engage with viewpoints that oppose their own or to think more carefully about
their claims. Students see their work being taken seriously (“Shaped”). The key
is that such response from teachers engages with the WHAT of a student’s paper:
what the student is saying, not just how s/he is saying it. It addresses the
student, not the paper and not simply the problems in a paper.
Take
for example the most uncomfortable student paper: the badly written account of
a death in the family. How do we point out a comma splice in a sentence
describing how painful dad’s death was? By phrasing it the way we would for a
colleague, pointing out what might make such an important message sound most
professional and polished. I often suggest to students that they consider where
any of their work might appropriately be shared: a newspaper, a magazine, a
website. When a student pictures sharing work publicly, they see the importance
of correcting problems.
In
my classes, I usually make the first writing assignment one that gives me a
chance to establish a relationship of exchange with students. On day one, I make
a promise to write comments that encourage, not humiliate, ever. I have them
write to me, telling me about themselves as writers, or non-writers if that is
how they first see themselves. It takes me only a few minutes to scan their
letters and write a few brief comments on each that merely show the student I
enjoyed or appreciated something in what they wrote. This is the first step in
my campaign to get to know them and earn their trust.
Faced with a tall stack and little
time, I adopt this practice: I scan the essay quickly. I write an end note
detailing three things I liked or even loved. “Dear Susan, I loved the way you
opened with that wonderful quote. You really do an excellent job of clarifying
the controversy over this topic, and you state your stand on the issue firmly.”
I go back, add little comments in the margins like “oh!” or “interesting” or
even “wow!” Just simple notes to show that I am reacting to what is there. Then
I go back to my end comments and address one or two problems in a little “to
work on” note: the classic comma splice can be dealt with quickly if I have
discussed it in class and explained how I mark these, usually with a small “v”
pointing to the splice or a place where two independent clauses have been
joined without proper punctuation. If there are a lot of them, I note on the
paper that I have only marked them on one page. If I see an ideal spot for a
colon or dash, I say so. I also note in the margin spots where organization may
have failed or more detail is needed. Students who are really struggling need
even less feedback regarding their erros: experts advise focusing these
students on a single problem per paper. This is to my benefit, since it cuts
down on the time I spend responding.
If I have more time, or if one
particular student seems to be really struggling, I will type a longer note to
include with their paper. This note usually focuses on what the student is
doing well and offers advice on fixing just one or two problems. Student
respond very positively to these typed notes: it looks like I spent a long time
typing that note, and they appreciate my extra comments. The truth is, I can
crank out a full page letter in only a few minutes. In it, a student will find
advice very specific to him or her and this particular paper.
The
amount of time and effort I spend depends on the size of the stack I’m working
on, the amount of time I have, and the amount of effort the student put into
the paper—for example, if an essay is considerably late, I don’t feel compelled
to spend as much time responding. Maybe that’s unfair, but I have limited
resources, limited time, limited energy. I have to spend it wisely.
By
simply writing comments that show the writer how I as a reader am understanding
or not understanding his/her message, by reacting to the content of the paper
and the ideas of the author, I show a student 1) that s/he is a writer (writers
are people whose work is read), 2) that mistakes are hard on a reader and
diminish the message, and 3) that his/her ideas are being considered and
reacted to. This last is what academia is about: the exchange and building of
knowledge through dialog.
If
we teach writing or any other form of communication, it is our job to react to
the work students put out. It’s our job to show them how well their ideas are
coming across, how clear their message is. It’s our job to suggest ways to do
that better. When we do this respectfully, with a sense of sharing and guiding,
students benefit. And it’s less stressful for us, if our purpose is clear.
Student writing improves when they believe in themselves and their place in
college.
Remember
that “exchange” means a relationship of mutual benefit. Two or more people
exchange something. In the case of a writing class, students offer ideas and
insights, sometimes baring their souls. Teachers offer ideas and insights in
return, and it doesn’t hurt to share something of oneself. We get what we give.
Effective response provides this sense of having given and received, of having
been heard and valued, and of having been part of an academic conversation.
One
recent student was a single mom back at college to try to improve her life and
her children’s lives. Her first paper was a “train wreck,” from a teacher’s
point of view. The grammar errors almost startled me into asking how she got
into WR 121. I sat down with her, read some of her work aloud to her and showed
her what the lack of punctuation was doing to my understanding of her work. She
was shocked but understood immediately. She also confessed that she hadn’t
written anything in years, since high school in fact, and she worried that she
knew nothing about academic conventions like essay formatting or documenting
sources.
She
sat down with me a couple of times, sharing various drafts during or after class,
and I offered a few ideas for improvement. Her last paper startled me. Not only
had she almost entirely eliminated her punctuation errors, but she had
performed several tasks I had not expected. The last paper was simply an
argument paper: take a stand and support it. She had heard me give another
student’s thesis as an example of what people might choose to write about, and
she had been offended by the other student’s stance. Her essay became an
academic response to that stance, including primary research. She engaged with
the other student’s ideas, considered them, and responded critically. What
created this miraculous transformation? How could just a few extra moments of
my time make that much of a difference? I showed her work respect. I treated
her like a colleague. And she began to see herself as a college-level writer
and thinker.
Response
is work. There is no getting around it. However, it’s work that can make the
difference between student failure and success. Today’s students need more than
ever to feel that they belong in college, and our feedback can help keep them
here.
Addendum:
By
treating student writing the way we might treat professional writing, we teach
students to see themselves as writers. Alice Horning and Jeanie Robertson explain
why this is important. In their Reference
Guide to Revision History, Theory, and Practice, “Basic Writers and
Revision,” they describe the differences between professional writers, those
who make a living through published writing, and basic writers— for our
purposes, inexperienced writers. Professional writers have three kinds of
awareness that most inexperienced writers lack: metarhetorical awareness, or awareness
of the self as writer and of regular practices the self employs to produce
strong writing; metastrategic awareness, or awareness of how the self uses
tools to solve writing problems; and metalinguistic awareness, or awareness of
the various features of language and how to manipulate these features effectively
(Horning and Robertson 53). These professionals are established members of the
community in which they write. They have confidence in their own expertise,
they are aware of various tools and strategies available to them for problem
solving, and they are aware of the choices they and others make as writers,
noting which choices result in effective writing.
The
findings on professional writers suggest that they use their metalinguistic
awareness not to correct their writing but to address stylistic concerns and
clarity of expression; [basic writers], too, need help to develop this kind of
metalinguistic awareness in order to revise holistically, for substance, beyond
being correct (58).
Students
can learn to see themselves as writers, the way professionals do, and can thus
learn to consider the choices they make when they write, beyond just fixing
mistakes. Teacher comments can help students develop this metaview of their
work.
Works Cited
Horning, Alice and Jeanie Robertson. “Basic Writers and
Revision.” Reference Guide to Revision
History, Theory, and Practice. Ed. Alice Horning and Anne Becker. Colorado: Parlor Press
and the WAC Clearinghouse, 2006. 22 February 2007. Web.
Sommers, Nancy. “Across the Drafts.” “Re-Visions: Rethinking
Nancy Sommers’s ‘Responding to Student Writing,’ 1982.” Ed. Deborah H.
Holdstein. College Composition and Communication 58.2 (December 2006):
246- 66.
---. HWP Harvard Writing Project Bulletin. Special
Issue: Responding to Student Writing. The President and Fellows of Harvard College, 2000.
---. Laura Saltz. “The Novice as Expert.” College
Composition and Communication 56.1 (September 2004): 124- 149.
---. “Shaped by Writing: The Undergraduate Experience. A
brief guide to the film.” Insert. Across
the Drafts and Shaped by Writing
(same disk). DVD. The President and Fellows of Harvard College,
2005. The Harvard Study of Undergraduate Writing. 2002. 1 July 2008.
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