Practices and conceptions of feedback in initial teacher training

Abstract

This article presents the results of a research project that aimed at characterizing the feedback given by professors to their students in relation to their academic assignments and at understanding the conceptions related to those practices. The research was conducted in an Initial Teacher Training program imparted by a private university in Chile. The research approach is qualitative-interpretative and had as participants four professors of different subjects and students enrolled in each of those subjects. For this purpose, non-participant observation was carried out, while professors were given feedback to marked assignments, document analysis was conducted to those marked assignments, each professor participated in a semi-structured interview, and a focus group was held with their students. Results showed that there were differences in the underlying conceptions of the participants, which lead to different feedback styles, such as confirmatory, corrective, achievement and learning-oriented, and focused on missing points. Therefore, it could be inferred that professors’ feedbacks were understood in some cases as a mere correction of tasks and pointing out unachieved learning goals, while in others as projective improvement and as an open space for dialogue. These last two were the most valued kind of feedback by the students. Thus, this positive assessment emphasizes the need to include feedback as part of the curriculum of Initial Teacher Training programs to provide a formal framework for giving useful and enriching feedback to students