Student-led feedback on writing Requests made and feedback received

Abstract

Research suggests that learners’ engagement with the feedback process is important to foster learning, and it has been suggested that students have more autonomy in the feedback process by communicating their feedback preferences to the teacher or peers.  However, little is known about what kinds of feedback students request when given this autonomy.  Furthermore, it is unknown to what extent givers of feedback act in accordance with such feedback requests made by student writers when providing feedback.  The purpose of the present study is to evaluate the feedback requests made by Japanese university students to teacher and peer reviewers as well as the feedback received in response to the requests.  It was found that students requested feedback on content and the successful communication of ideas the most, followed by feedback on grammar and vocabulary, while feedback on organization and academic style were the least prioritized.  Requests made for feedback on content, grammar and academic style resulted in increased feedback on those areas, whereas feedback on other areas correlated weakly with requests made.