The impact of the feedback source on developing oral presentation competence

Abstract

While previous research in higher education emphasized the essence of feedback by the teacher, the peer or the self, it remains unclear whether the acquisition of students' oral presentation competence differs depending on the feedback source. This quasi-experimental study examines the effectiveness of the feedback source on 144 first-year undergraduate students' progression in cognition, behaviour and attitude towards presenting, as three interrelated elements of oral presentation competence. Mixed methods of multiple-choice tests and performance assessments using rubrics were used for data collection. Results demonstrated the superiority of teacher feedback for encouraging students' presentation behaviour, while cognition and attitude towards presenting developed significantly irrespective of the particular feedback source. However, the self-assessment condition revealed less impact on developing presentation behaviour and attitude compared to other feedback sources. Optimizing peer feedback and self-assessment in curricula requires knowledge about underlying feedback processes characterizing successful feedback of the various sources.

Keywords:

• assessment
• feedback source
• higher education
• oral presentation competence
• quasi-experimental design

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.