Feeling feedback: students’ emotional responses to educator feedback

Assessment feedback allows students to obtain valuable information about how they can improve their future performance and learning strategies. However, research indicates that students are more likely to reject or ignore comments if they evoke negative emotional responses. Despite the importance of this issue, there is a lack of research exploring if certain types of students are more likely to experience negative emotional responses than others. This study builds on extant qualitative studies through a quantitative examination of two previously identified student variables: different citizenship backgrounds (domestic and international) and different grade expectations (higher or lower than expected). The participants were 4514 students from two Australian universities. Analysis of survey data revealed that, regardless of language experience, international students were more likely than domestic students to find feedback comments to be discouraging, upsetting and too critical. Students who received grades lower than they expected on a particular assessment task were more likely than students who received grades higher than they expected to feel sad, shameful and angry as a result of the feedback comments. This paper concludes with several recommendations, including the need to modify assessment feedback practices in order to be sensitive to different student cohorts.     

The impact of community college attendance on baccalaureate attainment

Community colleges are seen as contradictory institutions. Supporters contend that community colleges increase baccalaureate attainment by providing access to higher education for students who would otherwise not attend college, while critics argue that these institutions decrease baccalaureate attainment for students who would otherwise attend a 4-year institution. Using the National Education Longitudinal Study, this article advances the literature on the impact of community colleges on baccalaureate attainment by estimating new models that allow controlling for pathways of enrollment while using different measures of educational expectations and correcting for college choice. Findings suggest that community colleges significantly reduce the probability of attaining a bachelor’s degree, as compared to 4-year institutions, an effect that remains after having taken into account non-traditional enrollment pathways, educational expectations, and self-selection into 2-year and 4-year institutions.An earlier version of this paper was presented at the November 2004 Annual Meeting of the Association for the Study of Higher Education.     

‘I wish color had no history’: an exploration of identity through student performance poetry

ABSTRACT

This article focuses on multiracial student experiences using co-created ethnographic data with two students’ spoken word poetry. The students considered their own history, their origins and discovered a complexity – and found that their struggle was not exclusively internal. External expectations of singular categorizations and social understanding of behavior played a role in students’ identity construction. The students exhibited an internalization of expectations, as they reflected on their developing identities in their writing. They also indicated that they found ways to resist the expectations and forms of power. The results further discussions related to the modern understanding of identity fluidity and raises the question of why identity, in the modern context, continues to be seen as fixed. The research enabled students to reflect on the complex nature of identity and present a nuanced picture of their unique identity struggles, and their awareness of the social constructs and expectations of others.     

Teacher expectations concerning students with immigrant backgrounds or special educational needs

ABSTRACT

Male students with immigrant backgrounds are disproportionally referred for special educational support outside regular classrooms or schools, which may reflect differential teachers’ expectations concerning the academic achievement of students based on sociodemographic characteristics. Although research has indicated differential teachers’ expectations for students based on immigrant background or special educational needs (SEN), less is known about a possible double vulnerability associated with combined stereotypes. Therefore, in the current study, both SEN and immigrant background were systematically varied and teachers were asked to rate the students’ academic achievement. Results showed that teachers’ expectations of students with SEN and immigrant background were lower than for students without immigrant background, especially in regards to language proficiency. These results may help to explain the overrepresentation of students with immigrant background in special education programmes. The educational and theoretical implications of these findings are discussed.     

Information and choice of A‐level subjects: A cluster randomised controlled trial with linked administrative data

We estimated the effects of an intervention which provided information about graduate wages to 5593 students in England, using a blinded cluster randomised controlled trial in 50 schools (registration: AEARCTR‐0000468). Our primary outcome was students’ choice of A‐level subjects at age 16. We also recorded the students’ expectations of future wages and the A‐level subjects they intended to take before and after the intervention, and linked their data into national administrative school examination records. We found that an hour‐long lesson on information about graduate wages affected students’ beliefs about and choice of subject. They were more likely to take mathematics and less likely to take biology and computing. We found strong evidence that mediating factors such as their beliefs about average graduate salaries and their own likely salary in each subject were affected by the intervention. This suggests that providing accessible and credible information on labour market consequences of school choices may influence students’ decisions. In the light of concerns about the quality of careers guidance for school students and expectations that educational choices should be well‐informed, the study has clear implications for policy and practice.     

Teachers' beliefs about students,and the intention of students to drop out of secondary education in Flanders

Students dropping out of education with no qualifications has been an important problem in the West for decades. Little relevant research has concentrated on school characteristics, and research into the role teachers might play in students' decision to quit school is particularly scarce. Using multilevel analyses of data for 11,844 students in 84 Flemish secondary schools, we investigate whether teachers' shared expectations of students are associated with students' intention to drop out. Particularly in vocational education, teachers' beliefs about the teachability of students influence the students' intention to quit, irrespective of perceived teacher support and students' sense of futility.     

Using an expectancy-value approach to examine teachers’ motivational strategies

This study explored verbal motivational strategies in exemplary teachers’ classrooms. A framework derived from expectancy-value theory, which addresses student motivation for academic tasks, was applied. Audiotaped math and literacy lessons of two exemplary second-grade teachers showed a high number of comments related to expectancies and relatively fewer related to valuing tasks. In addition, teachers made more motivational statements when in the process of instruction than when introducing or concluding instructional episodes. Interviews revealed that some teacher beliefs, such as the importance of rationales or ensuring student success, were related to classroom strategies. Implications for theory, practice, and research are discussed.     

Master and student in French higher education: Academic language and pedagogical distance

Academic Discourse is a contemporary study of the language of teaching in the Arts faculties of France in the mid-1960s. It was originally published asRapport pédagogique et communication (1965). Carried out during a time of mounting tension, it captures the breakdown in the social assumptions governing teaching practice in French universities. This empirical study of how students use academic language in their essays and exams brings out the implicit cultural expectations underlying scholastic success and the social functions served by the traditional pedagogical regime of the French university.     

Values of open admissions students,police students,and their teachers

This study compared the values of college open admissions students and of college police students to their teachers' values. It was found that for both groups new students differ from the faculty more than do advanced students, suggesting value changes in the direction of the faculty. Also found was no relationship between students' value similarity to the faculty and their academic success.     

A plan for the co-construction and collaborative use of rubrics for student learning

Abstract

The use of assessment rubrics in the higher education sector is now widespread in a number of disciplines. Typically, these rubrics are constructed by teachers who also tend to be the main users of the rubrics throughout the grading process. In recent years, questions have been raised about this teacher-directed approach and some educators have begun to explore an alternate approach to rubric construction; that is, engaging students in collaboration with their teachers to co-construct assessment rubrics. This paper outlines the processes employed in a project that investigated the co-construction of rubrics within six different contexts. The project aimed to engage students in collaboration with their teachers to co-construct rubrics which are co-owned by teacher and student. A mixed methods approach was utilized to explore the effectiveness of the strategy. Questionnaires, interviews and focus groups were utilized to gather data from both the teacher-participants and student-participants regarding their experiences of being involved in the study. Findings are presented from the perspectives of both students and teachers, relating their views of rubrics and the activity of rubric co-construction. The paper concludes with recommendations for practical approaches to rubric co-construction and future research directions.