‘It has a purpose beyond justifying a mark’: examining the alignment between the purpose and practice of feedback

Abstract

Research has shown that written feedback is important for student learning and development. However, the messages embedded in feedback may lead to students being misled about what they need to learn or how they need to develop. This article reports on a small-scale investigation into the messages embedded in feedback. Legitimation Code Theory was used to first conceptualise the often-hidden purpose of a discipline (English Studies), and concomitantly of feedback within the discipline, and second to analyse actual comments given to first-year students on their assignments. It was found that there is a clear misalignment between the purpose and practice of feedback, thereby suggesting that students are receiving misleading messages about what they need for success within the discipline. This may have implications beyond merely passing the module. A suggestion is made to actively consider, and develop, feedback as a discipline-specific literacy.

Keywords:

• Feedback
• English Studies
• knower code
• student writers

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank my PhD supervisors, Dr. Sherran Clarence and Prof. Sharita Bharuthram, for their guidance and advice with this project. I am also deeply grateful for the feedback I got at the Second International Legitimation Code Theory Conference, which helped me to refine my translation device.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Martina Van Heerden

Martina van Heerden is an English for Educational Development lecturer at the University of the Western Cape. Dr van Heerden's research interests include feedback, academic development, peer review, and academic literacies.