Definitions of writing and feedback

One definition of writing is that writing is seen as an opportunity to write something about yourself, to express or explore ideas about something and to evaluate other people's opinions (Trimmer 1998: 2). Therefore, by organising ideas and writing them in order to present them makes writing a good opportunity for communication.

Moreover, a second definition of writing is that writing is described as a process that includes certain stages such as planning, drafting and revising (Trimmer 1998: 5). In other words, writers go through stages in order to produce essays which proves that writing is a process (Brannan 2010: 4).

Additionally, a third definition of writing refers to writing as a process of creating permanent texts (Pontecorvo 1997: xv). The permanence of texts means that anybody can read them even if the intended audience was different in the beginning (Hughes 1996: 12).

All the above definitions of writing describe writing from three different perspectives.

The first definition describes writing from a general point of view which, however, is true. In other words, writing is an opportunity for communicating ideas with others.

The second definition describes writing from a practical point of view. According to the definition, writing is a realistic process that includes planning, drafting and revising. The last definition refers to the permanence of writing. This is also a true characteristic of writing. Texts are more permanent than speech.

One definition of feedback is that feedback is given by a teacher to a student and is related to student work (Brookhart 2008: 1). In other words, the teacher’s feedback should focus on the work that a student has done. Feedback can be either written or oral and it can take different forms according to the audience that it appeals to (Brookhart 2008: 2). Therefore, it can take the form of individual or group feedback

(Brookhart 2008: 2). Feedback is also claimed to be the teacher’s judgment about the school performance of a student (Askew 2000: 6).

A second definition of feedback refers to the “judgment culture associated with summative assessment” (Irons 2008, as quoted by Burke 2010: 27). This culture has developed because most assignments in school tend to be summative focusing on grades to signal the end of the learning process (Burke 2010: 26-27). Thus, in these cases, feedback is used to justify the grade. Grading is so important and it causes so much anxiety to teachers that they want it to be done as soon as possible taking on the responsibility to read learners’ assignments as a process of grading (Burke 2010: 26).

In other words, teachers give feedback as evaluators, judges or critics who criticise and correct a lot.

A third definition of feedback refers to the way people use this term (Burke 2010: 27).

This implies that feedback is used in a casual and inaccurate way (Wiggins 1997, as quoted by Burke 2010: 27). Smiling at a learner saying “good job” or “well-done” or writing “B” on the top of a paper is not feedback (Wiggins 1997, as quoted by Burke 2010: 27). Rather, feedback is useful information about performance and it is not evaluation. In other words, feedback is value-neutral help on worthy tasks and it describes what the learner did or did not do to achieve his/her goals. Moreover, it is information that permits the learner to make clever adjustments when he/she uses it to his/her next attempt to perform. According to this definition, feedback should help learning by focusing on what to do in order to improve and ways to improve it and not focusing on evaluation. Furthermore, in this definition of feedback, a distinction is made between advisory and evaluative feedback.

On the one hand, evaluative feedback looks backwards and it gives a grade or rating of a paper that was written in the past and captures the teacher’s perception of the learner’s performance (Burke 2010: 27). This kind of feedback is mainly given so that the learner can clearly understand what the grade is for an assignment he/she has already written in the past. In other words, the grade functions as a reward or punishment for a learner’s performance.

On the other hand, advisory feedback provides learners with guidance about how to improve their performance in the future and that is why this feedback is forward-looking (Burke 2010: 27). It aims at providing learners with information about their

performance on a certain assignment, at showing which parts of the performance need to be improved and at telling the learner what steps to take in order to improve his/her performance and thus, learning (Burke 2010: 27).

A fourth definition of feedback describes feedback as response between the teacher and learners that has to be interactive (Andrade and Evans 2013: 9). This means that when feedback is seen as response, then learners perceive teachers’ comments as suggestions rather than commands or raw feedback. This also leads to the assumption that this interactive feedback is non-judgmental, thus, it allows the opportunity for dialogue between the teacher and learners and the possibility for negotiations of errors in writing.

A way for this kind of feedback as response is by having learners evaluate their own writing and then discuss these evaluations (Grabe and Kaplan 1996: 389). Then, this discussion can help the teacher to organise mini-lessons on the errors and the

problems that learners face. In this way, the feedback can be given as a response to learners’ needs and interests and it is not just a decontextualised lesson. Therefore, good feedback as response is similar to the peer group feedback since the teacher raises a number of questions to learners so that learners can make revisions before they submit their writing back to the teacher (Grabe and Kaplan 1996: 394). In other words, learners are asked to comment on their errors and this functions as self-evaluation that shows the teacher where learners face difficulties and what he/she should do next.

It is apparent that all four definitions view feedback from different perspectives. The first definition is quite general referring to feedback as something that is given by the teacher to the learner and concerns his/her work. The only clarification made is that of oral or written and individual or group feedback. In general, one can claim that there is nothing wrong with this definition and that it applies to most feedback given by teachers.

However, the second and third definitions seem quite conflicting. The second definition relates feedback to grades and summative assessment and one can claim that through this definition feedback acquires a negative meaning. In other words, getting a low grade is equal to punishment and learning does not have any role in this kind of feedback. This view of feedback seems quite narrow-minded although it is

practiced by numerous teachers. However, the main problem is that it does not promote learning.

The third definition seems to be the most balanced and useful for the learner since it promotes learning without focusing on evaluation and grading. In other words, it shows the learner what is wrong in his/her writing without overcriticising and overwhelming the learner. Furthermore, it helps him/her to find ways in order to improve his/her writing for the next assignment. Generally, this kind of feedback is preferred because it allows the learner to see his/her errors and try to correct them with the teacher’s feedback. In other words, this feedback is more learner-centred since it places the responsibility of learning on the learners. Additionally, in contrast to the second definition, here feedback has a positive meaning. It is not something that learners should be afraid of.

The fourth definition views the teacher’s feedback from a more social point of view and pays attention to the role of the learner as well. Feedback, even written, appears to be more interactive and stops being judgmental and absolutely strict with no margins for discussion or negotiation just like the first or second definitions where the teacher is the authority and either just corrects or gives marks that may discourage learners. In contrast, in the more social aspect of feedback, it is learners who try to figure out their errors showing the teacher where to focus his/her feedback on. This can be a much more positive experience for learners since they feel responsible for their own

learning and they are not afraid of the teacher’s feedback. In other words, feedback is not punishment in the form of a mark, rather it is a real effort for learning.

The following section explains the various forms that the teacher’s feedback can take such as giving commentaries or electronic feedback.