My presentation this week at IATEFL 2014 in Harrogate was entitled “Learner-Directed Feedback: A useful tool for developing EAP writing and academic skills?”. It was a report on a small action research study I recently conducted on what I’m (for the moment) calling ‘Learner-Directed Feedback’. I’m aware that this may be slightly misleading to some, particularly when it’s confused with peer feedback or peer review – any ideas for a better term are welcome! For now, I’ve adopted a fun term suggested by my colleague as the title of this blog post: Feedback on Demand (but don’t worry, there’s no subscription fee!)
I define Learner-Directed Feedback as follows: Learners ask to receive feedback in a certain format and on specific aspects of their written work. The feedback is given by the teacher, but the learners ‘direct’ how and on what they receive feedback comments. In order to ‘direct’ the feedback, learners can often choose between various modes of delivery (e.g. email, electronic document, audio recording, face-to-face consultation), and are usually required to pose specific questions about their language and text to which the teacher responds. More details on instructions given to students working with this method of feedback can be found here: LDF Instructions
Here are the slides – I’ve edited them to include a little more detail which was part of my speech, in case you weren’t able to be there, or didn’t take very good notes! 🙂
IATEFL 2014 Learner Directed Feedback
I would welcome any comments or questions on what I have ‘said’ – please post them below.
Other Useful Links
The conference programme: http://iatefl.britishcouncil.org/2014/sites/iatefl/files/pages/harrogate-2014-conference-programme.pdf
Clare's ELT Compendium 