In search of learning-focused feedback practices: a linguistic analysis of higher education feedback policy

Abstract

Feedback can have one of the biggest positive influences on higher education learners. Despite this, teachers and students consistently report being dissatisfied with feedback. In response, there has been a theoretical shift in how feedback is conceptualised and discussed within the research literature. Older transmission-focused models have evolved into more learning-focused approaches. However, the extent to which higher education feedback policy, and subsequent practice, embrace such current thinking is unclear. This research adopted a corpus linguistics approach to analyse how the term ‘feedback’ was used within 50 UK higher education institutions’ feedback policy texts. Sketch Engine was used to analyse ‘feedback’ collocation frequencies. To investigate differences between research-intensive (Russell Group) and more teaching-focused (non-Russell Group) universities, separate corpora were also compiled and compared. Quantitative results showed that the most frequent feedback collocations related to outdated transmission-focused feedback practices. However, qualitative deductive thematic analysis found that many feedback policies did present learning-focused feedback practices despite using transmission-focused language. Feedback appears to mean different things to different higher education institutions which could lead to confusion for teachers and students. The research concludes by presenting key practical implications for practitioners involved in feedback policy design and enactment to improve practice.

Keywords:

• corpus linguistics
• feedback literacy
• feedback policy
• feedback processes

Acknowledgements

This research was undertaken as part of the PhD in Educational Research – Higher Education in the Department of Educational Research at Lancaster University. I am pleased to acknowledge the contribution of Dr Janja Komljenovic and my peers in supporting the development of this research. I would also like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their time and effort reviewing the manuscript. I sincerely appreciate the valuable comments and suggestions, which helped to improve the quality of the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.