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Effects of differential feedback on students' examination performance
Anastasiya A Lipnevich1, Jeffrey K Smith2
1Educational Testing Service.
Journal of Experimental Psychology. Applied
|December 23, 2009
Summary
Detailed descriptive feedback significantly improves student essay performance. This feedback is most effective when provided without grades or praise, regardless of whether it
Area of Science:
- Educational Psychology
- Cognitive Psychology
Background:
- Feedback is crucial for learning and performance improvement.
- Understanding the impact of different feedback types and accompanying factors is essential in educational settings.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine the effects of detailed descriptive feedback versus no feedback on student performance.
- To investigate the moderating roles of grades and praise on feedback effectiveness.
- To determine if the perceived source of feedback (instructor vs. computer) influences its impact.
Main Methods:
- A quasi-experimental design with 464 undergraduate students in an introductory psychology course.
- Three feedback conditions: no feedback, instructor-perceived detailed feedback, and computer-perceived detailed feedback.
- Feedback conditions were crossed with grade (numerical or none) and praise (present or absent) variables.
Main Results:
- Detailed descriptive feedback strongly correlated with improved essay scores.
- Receiving a grade generally depressed performance, but praise could mitigate this effect.
- Feedback was most effective when delivered alone, without grades or praise.
- The perceived source of feedback had minimal impact on outcomes.
Conclusions:
- Descriptive feedback, offering guidance for improvement, is superior to evaluative feedback.
- The optimal feedback strategy involves providing specific, actionable information without evaluative components like grades or praise.
- Learner perceptions of feedback source do not significantly alter its effectiveness.
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