The Focus of Feedback: The Four Lev

The Focus of Feedback: The Four LevelsThe focus of feedback is critically important, and in this article, we claim that there are four major levels and that the level at which feedback is directed influ- ences its effectiveness. First, feedback can be about a task or product, such as whether work is correct or incorrect. This level of feedback may include directions to acquire more, different, or correct information, such as "You need to include more about the Treaty of Versailles." Second, feedback can be aimed at the process used to create a product or complete a task. This kind of feedback is more directly aimed at the processing of information, or learning processes requiring under- standing or completing the task. For example, a teacher or peer may say to a learner, "You need to edit this piece of writing by attending to the descriptors you have used so the reader is able to understand the nuances of your meaning," or "This page may make more sense if you use the strategies we talked about earlier." Third, feedback to students can be focused at the self-regulation level, including greater skill in self-evaluation or confidence to engage further on a task. For exam- ple, "You already know the key features of the opening of an argument. Check tosee whether you have incorporated them in your first paragraph." Such feedback can have major influences on self-efficacy, self-regulatory proficiencies, and self- beliefs about students as learners, such that the students are encouraged or informed how to better and more effortlessly continue on the task. Fourth, feed- back can be personal in the sense that it is directed to the "self," which, we argue below, is too often unrelated to performance on the task. Examples of such feed- back include "You are a great student" and "That's an intelligent response, well done.