Formative Assessment and Feedback with Teacher Immediacy Behaviors in an E-Text-Based Context

Abstract

Most students favor feedback from an instructor to their assignments, as it informs them of whether or not their finished work is on the right track. However, solely awarding a grade or score to students’ assignments, even if with very brief comments, does not enable students to know how to improve their work. This type of assessment tends to gauge students’ work for evaluation, making students become competitive with peers for grades or scores (Harlen & Crick, 2003; Nicol & MacFarlane-Dick, 2006). Deviating from this orientation, this chapter converges on the importance of constructive and beneficial feedback through the assessment process in an e-text-based context, for the purpose of lifelong learning. The chapter also discusses teacher immediacy cues, which are intended to assist the reader in developing a better understanding of how feedback should be provided to students. To aid the reader to walk along this path, this chapter also provides suggested practical strategies.