On Teacher Comments and Student Expectations
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.
The
research done in this study will focus on what students want from their
professors and how students 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 this study 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 Sommers’ views
her research, as well as being viewed from the point of view of a student. Firstly we will look over the literature used
in this research, looking at what Sommers’ research says on the subject in her
book, Responding to Student Writers. We will 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 will 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 will 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.
Research Question
As a student, I have always struggled with accepting and
using any, if not all of the feedback that teachers
provided on my writing assignments both in high school and my early college
years. I have always felt they were
inadequate and did not meet my expectations for feedback. But I am not the only one who feels this way
about teacher comments. Many students
across the country also have expectations of their teachers in terms of
comments and feedback on their writing assignments. The purpose of this essay is to determine
what students really want from their teachers’ in terms of comments on
assignments. In other words; What do
students expect to see in the comments from teachers and professors? Also, how do students react to those comments
and how do they end up using those comments? The data gathered in this study will aid in
answering those question with evidence clarifying the notion that students
expect to see adequate comments from teachers on work in return for working
hard on said work and completing it.
Literature Review
For this study, I focused most of my research using Nancy
Sommers’ Responding to Student Writers,
as there are a couple sections with good relevant material. In her book, Sommers focuses on creating a
model of “responding as a dialogue and not a fix-it operation – and for
thinking about the benefits of responding to writers as well as to their
writing.” While her study focuses on
responding to student writers through dialogue, she brings up some important
things that I saw as useful information for this study. In order to understand what students expect
from teachers and professors, we must first understand why and what it is that
teachers provide when it comes to comments.
“Even the most thoughtful and articulate comments will have
no influence on students if they don’t understand how to use them. If students believe that the purpose of
comments is to justify a grade or to correct their mistakes, they won’t read
their teachers’ comments with any sense of agency or engagement. And if students encounter comments written in
an unfamiliar language, they’ll simply be baffled and unable to grasp the
meaning.”(Sommers, 9)
What this means is that
teachers provide comments for a specific reason. It is not to just point out the mistakes or
to tell the student that they are doing very well with what they have written
so far. Rather, it is to inform the
student what they may need to do in order to improve upon what they already
have written so far. In that regard,
Sommers is saying that teachers are providing the comments that students want,
the constructive criticism they need as writers, but perhaps are not
articulating those comments on a level that students can comprehend.
And then
there’s what the students want and expect from their teachers. In a list, Sommers details what writing
center tutors at Columbus State University issued in a statement to their
faculty; students ask that teachers “not use their(the professors) comments to
reinforce the hierarchy between professors and students…show them(the students)
that they have read the students papers and care about their development as
writers and thinkers.”(Sommers, 14) This
is basically saying that students want the professors to give them comments
that they can actually use to help them along the path of development as
writers. “…point out what they’ve
accomplished and provide specific strategies for how they can improve as writers.”
And not just improve, but reinforce the students’ confidence levels in
themselves as writers. This is to say
that students who do care about their development as writers have specific
expectations from their professors and teachers. After all, as the teacher and or professor,
it is only the right thing to do to help meet students’ expectations and guide
them through their writing process by giving them the comments they want to see. “Students would like professors’ comments to
help them notice themes and patterns in their writing, rather than point out
random or arbitrary mistakes.” What this
all really comes down to is that students do not want the comments they are
given to tell them what do or how something should be done. Rather, they want comments to guide them
through understanding what they must do in order to improve not just what they
wrote, but their skills as writers.
Students expect guidance from their professors and teachers, not
justification of their abilities to write and pointing out the trivial editing
matters. If students work hard to
complete a written assignment, there’s no doubt that they will expect specific comments
from their professors and teachers. Perhaps,
in the defense of teachers and professors, they may really be providing the
comments that students’ expect from them.
The only thing is that as professionals, teachers and professors write
comments to their students’ as the professionals and at the professional level,
not at a level that students can understand.
Methods
Being a student who has, over the years, experienced the
disappointment of inadequate comments and feedback on my work from teachers, I
find myself considering myself as someone who knows what many students in this
country feel. But, I could not rely on
that. I needed to get inside the mind of
another student, someone who I know feels exactly the same about the comments
they receive on their writing. So, much
of the data I gathered was through an interview. I ended up interviewing one of my own
classmates, ‘D,’ since we both understand the feeling of disappointment when
our professors’ comments do not meet our expectations. D, just like me, is an English –Writing
option major of Kean University. When I
initially decided to do an interview with her, my reasoning was that I’d be
able to gather a lot more data on my subject rather than searching the internet
for scholarly and credible sources. Not
only that, but it would also help me to present a students perspective on
teacher/professor comments on their writing.
Even though I initially planned the interview to last
just half an hour, my interview ended up being just over an hour long. Reason being is that we got sidetracked quite
a bit talking about our respective writings and our professors. Even so, I transcribed the full length of the
interview to get a good sense of what I really needed and what I did not need
for my research. I obviously edited out
all of what was not relevant to the main reason for the interview, so what I
was left with was just under half an hours’ worth of an interview. Transcribing it a second time, I ended up
removing many of the awkward pauses between us, but kept some of the small
things and actions I observed during the interview.
Before
doing this interview, however, I had intended to find out what another student
like myself wants to see in their professors’ comments, how they receive those
comments, how they use those comments and how those comments end up influencing
their writing in the future. And I
received answers to the questions intended for those specifics, noticing themes
in her responses that allowed me to develop categories for the specifics I
intended to find out. Like any other
student who seeks to develop as a writer, ‘D’ wants to see (1)guidance from her
professors comments, (2)uses what she feels is useful and positive(dismisses
what she feels is negative), and (3)prefers the independence and ownership
aspect of writing as a college student.
For the sake of this study and space, only parts of the interview that
fit into each category will be shown. Some parts of the interview are mixed together for organizational purposes of each category being discussed.
Guidance
Like myself, ‘D’ has gotten used to receiving comments
that typically do not provide her with any guidance on what she may do in order
to improve her writing. She has gone
through that frustration, and this is clearly shown in her response to one of my
questions about what she expects from comments on her writing.
F: I see. And what do you expect in terms of comments and feedback from your professors on your assignments?D: I usually expect positive feedback. I’m kind of used to teachers telling me “good!” or “nice!” or some other affirmative, teacher-y kind of comment. In terms of what I expect a teacher’s comment to do, I expect it to guide me. I turn in my draft for a reason. I mean, yeah, because you assigned it, but also because I want your feedback. I want to know what you like, or don’t like. What’s working? What isn’t? I expect your comments to tell me something I wouldn’t have thought of otherwise, something I couldn’t figure out on my own. You’re the professional. Teach me something.
F: And how have your professors’ comments influenced your perceptions of what is required of you?
D: They set the standard. I always listen really carefully when my teacher talks about a paper, because, based on what they say. I’ll know what they’re expecting. You can just tell when an assignment is like, eh, not that bad, and when it’s like, okay this is a serious grade here. Comments usually tell me if I’m on the right track or not.
‘D’ clearly states that
she expects the comments she receives to guide her, guide her down the right
path to becoming a better writer that is.
So why is it that sometimes students like ‘D’ are disappointed by the
comments they receive? For one, it can
be the fact that perhaps the professors’ comments are too broad, or the student
cannot comprehend what the comments mean.
Or, it could be that the student is just not willing to use the comments
at all. Whatever the case, ‘D’ seems to
be the type of student who uses the comments she is given depending on their
usefulness to her. But not only that,
‘D’ is also the type of student who understands what the professor expects of
her as a writer. The important concept
to understand here is that although teachers and professors have their
expectations of their students, so too do students have expectations of their
professors.
Usefulness
One might think that students will use everything their
professor gives them in the comments on their writing. It would only seem natural for a student to
use everything given to them in the comments, since they are the words of a
professional. However, ‘D’ uses that
which she deems is useful to her as a writer.
F: Do you ever use what your professor comments on for writing your future assignments?D: Not really. The comments are made so far apart from each other I forget what half of them say. I just remember the tone. Like “yeah I did good on that paper,” or “no he didn’t like that one too much.” And the assignments are always pretty different, so the comments for one paper probably wouldn’t be applicable to another anyway.
F: Alright, so then what were your initial reactions to your professors comments? And why?
D: If they were negative or critical, surprise, which is because I usually get pretty good feedback from teachers. Sometimes I will even get a little insulted because I thought something was good, and a teacher may have disagreed. I can be a brat sometimes like that. Unless we’re talking about Professor S’s feedback, because he will specifically ask us what we want feedback on. Which I think is great, because there are times when all I want is specific feedback on something. So when I’m not surprised, I feel…enlightened? I guess? Like my questions have been answered. And sometimes, if a paper is really bad, I will say, “yeah, I knew she wasn’t going to like that.” Chances are I didn’t like it either.
F: I know what that’s like.
D: Don’t we all?
Even though the comments
given to her may be from a professional providing constructive criticism on her
writing, she seems to only focus on what she feels is positive constructive
criticism, that which she feels guides her in a positive way. Depending on her initial reactions to the
comments she receives and how negatively or positively she feels about those
comments, she may or may not end up using any of the comments. Why?
Because like any other student, ‘D’ wants to feel good about her
writing, feel good about knowing the professor likes what she wrote.
F: In what way do the comments influence your writing for future assignments?D: Comments don’t usually affect me in the long run. The only ones that do are the ones that are positive. They remind me that, “heck yeah I’m a kick-ass writer. I’m good at this, I can work a keyboard like it’s my job.” They give me a little confidence boost, I guess. You know what I mean?
This may be typical of a student
writer who has gone through many disappointments with their professors’
comments on their writing. Not all
students are like this, but it would only be a typical reaction to teacher/professor
comments when and if the feedback and guidance is positive. Whatever comments they deem useful, students
will use, and dismiss the rest they deem negative.
Independence/Ownership of Writing
Among
the things that I made note of during the interview was that ‘D’ is the type of
student who prefers to do her writing independently. She prefers to choose the subjects she may
write about that are not limited to one specific thing by the curriculum:
F: And how helpful are your professors comments?D: Pretty helpful. In high school they were useless, because I had to write about what they wanted and what the curriculum said, and the way they wanted it. But in college, it’s a lot more personalized because we pick our own topics and basically get free reign over everything. I think that’s more conductive to the creative process. It helps us discover for ourselves what our own personal style is.
She states here that she
likes the ‘personalized’ aspect of college writing compared to the limited by
the curriculum high school writing. ‘D’
is someone who prefers her writing to be her ‘own,’ to be completely unique
from anything else that other students are writing about. That is another reason why she prefers
guidance on her writing from her professors’ comments. Like many students in their college years,
independence and ownership of their writing is a big thing, since no papers
from every student in their classes are exactly the same. The important thing to understand is that
even with the ownership and independence of their writing, students will still
need that guidance from their professors’ comments. Because to develop independently as writers,
students need to be guided through their writing process by those comments they
expect on their writings.
Conclusion
So, this
is quite a bit to understand about teacher comments and students expectations
of those comments. Sommers defends that
teachers and professors really do provide the comments that students expect
from them. It is only a matter of the
student being motivated or willing enough to actually make use of those
comments. But Sommers also brings up the
point that teachers may be writing comments to their students at a level that
leaves them baffled by those comments and unable to comprehend them. But, to understand how teachers/professors
are meeting the expectations of their students, we first have to understand what it is that students expect from
their teachers. I was able to determine
just what some of those expectations are through an interview conducted with
one such student, since Sommers did not jump this far into understanding what
students want from teacher comments.
Using the information gathered from the interview, some of the
expectations of students are pretty simple when analyzed. Students do not want comments that point out
trivial mistakes and what to edit, they want guidance on what they can do to improve; students want
constructive criticism and feedback that can be useful to them, positive feedback
that reinforces students confidence levels in their abilities as writers; and lastly,
students expect comments that solidify the independence/ownership aspect of
their writings, comments that serve to acknowledge the teachers/professors
approval of what the students are writing.
In short, students have expectations on what their teachers comment on
in their writings, and teachers/professors will meet those expectations in some
manner, whether at the professional level, or at a level comprehendible to
students.
Works Cited
Sommers, Nancy. Responding
to Student Writers. Boston: Bedford/Martin’s, 2013. Print
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