Blog #25a

How Students Learn from and use Teacher Comments

 

Introduction

“Comments aren’t written with a clear lesson in mind, or even a clear sense of how a student might use these comments”(Sommers, 2013).  It is suggested that students are sometimes overwhelmed by the amount of teacher comments on their papers, and sometimes do not know how to use the feedback given to them.  When it comes to education in America, particularly in college, there are certain things that students expect from their professors on their assignments in terms of comments and feedback.  But often times, students will receive feedback and comments they might not know how to use for their future assignments, much less even agree with.  In this study, I focused on researching what it is students want from their professors and how they will apply what they are given in terms of comments on their assignments.  There will be an in depth look at how students really use what they are given in the comments on their assignments and how they apply what they gain from the comments on future papers.  On top of that, those participating in interviews for this research were asked if they were ever frustrated by their professor’s comments on their work, and why they were frustrated by the comments.  Participants were also asked if they were ever confused by any of the comments, as well as if they managed to figure out what those comments meant.  The research done in this study will be viewed somewhat similarly to how Sommer’s views her research, as well as being viewed from the point of view of a student.  Firstly we’ll look over the literature used in this research, looking at what Sommer’s says on the subject in her book, Responding to Student Writers.  We’ll analyze what she means when she says that students have expectations on comments from their teachers, while teachers have expectations from their students in terms of using the comments and feedback they provide.  Then there’ll be an overview of the general categories that can be identified from the data gathered, both from the literature and the research done.  Secondly, we’ll delve into the mind of the student, analyzing what it is exactly that a student thinks about the comments, how they react to the comments, and what they end up learning and using from those provided comments.  For this, an interview was done with a student that focused on determining the kind of expectations she has from her professor’s in terms of comments on their comments on her assignments.  In a sense, I looked at this research project from two different perspectives; the professor’s view (meaning what Sommer’s explains on the subject), and the students view (from what I have been able to gather from the research and interviews).

I know, this is only the introduction.  But I wasn't able to work on the research at all over the weekend.  This is what I've managed to do today with the introduction.  Tomorrow, I will work on the second part of the draft in blog 25b, the literature review, and post that up once I feel I have enough for it to be in the draft stage, and then after that I will post my analysis of my interview with my mark ups.