Last week I took a new workout class at my local gym. It wasn’t easy and I struggled quite a bit with some of the moves that were challenging. As I was leaving the class, the instructor came over and said to me: “Good job today!” Instead of being excited about the feedback, I left the class wondering what triggered her comment to me. Did I do a good job because I did everything asked of me? Did I do a good job because I did everything right during the class? Did I do a good job because I was better than others in the class who didn’t get the “good job” feedback? Or did I do a good job because I didn’t quit even when I wanted to? While I initially appreciated the feedback since I was absolutely exhausted (and did consider leaving half-way through the class), it left me with wanting to know more as I left the gym. I will go back to the class next week, but I don’t really know what I have to do to trigger another “good job” comment from the instructor.

Learners in language classes can experience the same kind of wonderings when we share with them our favorite positive quick feedback. Look at all the “Muy bien!” “Tres bien!” “hěn hǎo” “Super!” and of course all the smiley faces that find a home on learner’s papers.  Often, we share that kind of feedback because we are excited about a student responding to a question appropriately, we are excited about a student using a particularly challenging form of a verb accurately, we are excited a shy student is sharing something from their life in the target language, we are excited …. and we reward learners for that excitement. But does this kind of feedback actually support learners’ language development? We do want to celebrate learners’ success through feedback but in order for it to be effective it must also allow them to reflect on progress and must allow them to identify next steps to improve their performance. (That’s a lot of pressure for one little smiley face.)

In order to create an environment for feedback to be meaningful in such a way teachers must facilitate learning experiences that focus on three learner engagement behaviors.

For language learners this means they need to understand what performance at different proficiency levels looks and sounds like. This is where saving work from year to year can be very helpful so that you can show learners different models at different levels of success for any given assignment or assessment. It also means that it is not just important that learners understand the task but know the expectations for how to complete the task. This is so important for all types of learners: 1) your low performers who are trying to get the task done as fast as possible with minimal effort need that reminder of what it takes to not just complete a task but complete it successfully; 2) your compliant learners who will do exactly what is asked of them but perhaps not anything more, even if they could do more; and 3) your highflyers who want to know exactly how to succeed and perhaps exceed your expectations.

Have you ever had that dream, where instead of you spending a weekend trying to “grade” (em, provide feedback on) hundreds of assignments, all your students could just magically grade their own work? Wouldn’t that be nice? Turns out when learners truly understand the success criteria and teachers have provided them with examples for the criteria while teaching, learners are often able to use a rubric and reflect on their own performance. I have observed teachers complete an interpersonal assessment task with a student and at the end of the conversation turn the rubric around and say: “how did you do?” While this might take a little time to accomplish, providing learners with opportunities to self-assess in class is something you can do almost anytime. Instead of just having learners review their growth at the end of the semester or the end of the year, ask them to reflect on their progress after completing a performance task or even just a daily check for learning. When learners begin to notice patterns in their use of language (both successful ones and those that need refinement), they are more likely to use them next time.

Rubrics. Rubrics. Rubrics. While the perfect rubric doesn’t exist  they are a good tool to support students in their celebration and planning for future performance. The important part to remember is that rubrics are not for the teacher but FOR the learner. The primary goal of a rubric isn’t to make it easier for you to grade an assignment, but rather to help learners as they reflect and respond to a performance and prepare for the next time. Don’t forget to remember that all learners must be able to see themselves on the rubric. That includes learners who are performing at levels much lower that most of the class. It also includes learners who are exceeding the targets of the class. If learners don’t see their current and next level of performance, the rubric will have little meaning for them.

Returning to my gym class experience, my instructor actually did share some success criteria. She demonstrated several of the exercises and also showed us what not do and, in some cases, even provided options for modifying certain exercises if we didn’t think we could perform them at the optimal level. “This is what a push up should look like. This is not a push up. This is not a push up. This is an option for a push up. This is another option.” We knew and understood exactly what kind of push up she wanted us to do in the class. When it came time for feedback though it wasn’t at all connected to those criteria and it didn’t prepare me for the next time. So, for now, I’m headed back to my workout class later this week and hopefully I will once again do a “good job” (and maybe master those one-handed 6 count push-ups.)

And if you want to think more about how you are giving—and how your learners are processing—feedback you might want to explore this TELL Learner Pathway which asks you to reflect on the degree to which learners in your classes exhibit these three feedback behaviors.