Comparisons with Exemplars - More Autonomous Students and Less Workload for Teachers.

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Summary

In recent years, the focus of feedback studies has shifted from teachers’ comments to students’ reception (Panadero and Lipnevich, 2022). Feedback has been termed as a co-constructed set of strategies generated in reaction to surrounding elements (Panadero et al., 2018: Yan et al, 2022), which make students “elicitors” of feedback (Joughin, et al., 2021). As Vygotsky argues in his socio-cultural theory (1978), meaningful interactions can lead to improved performance. The repetition and incidence of comparative practices to seek feedback can lead to a more refined and independent kind of self-regulation, which is proved to enhance work (Carless, 2019), but it is crucial to make these practices explicit in students’ self-reviewing and self-monitoring processes in feedback literate students. Feedback literacy is not a stative value and should be practised to achieve higher levels of feedback fluency.

The value of comparisons with exemplars will be showcased as opposed to teachers' provision of feedback comments.

What I am proposing is that the iteration of comparisons of student drafts to exemplars can be highly beneficial for students and can help them find gaps, shortcomings and salient differences between their work and that of others. This will lead to more refined practices in self- regulation, self- monitoring and feedback elicitation, as opposed to receiving feedback comments from teachers solely. It can be stated that students can bridge the gap between their present capabilities and the result desired, by analising these differences and engaging in actions to enhance their work after comparisons. In addition, these practices can enhance critical thinking and self- directed learning. Additionally, by moving away from providing teacher comments, teacher time can be better utilised.

About the presenter

The presenter, Karina Cicero, has been an EFL practitioner for over 20 years both in South America and in the UK. She has taught exam preparation classes, EAP and academic modules in Pre-sessional and Foundation programmes for the last 6 years. She is currently the Head of Learning and Teaching at CEG OnCampus LSBU and oversees teaching quality across pathways. She is a teacher trainer and takes part in internal and external CPD sessions based on her research. She holds a DELTA, MA and is a SFHEA.