Feedback plays a key role in the formative assessment cycle (clarifying learning goals, gathering information about students’ learning, interpreting information, and acting on the information collected), as proposed by Ruiz-Primo and Li (2013). If the quality of feedback provided by teachers is high, students obtain valuable information on their performance and the actions they need to take towards reaching established learning goals. This investigation addressed feedback as critical to equity in instruction in linguistically diverse science classrooms. We examined the possibility that English language learners (ELLs)—students who are developing English as a second language while they continue developing their native language—may not benefit as much as their non-ELL mainstream counterparts do from the feedback provided by their teachers. The paper addresses the fact that feedback depends heavily on social interaction and communication mediated by language. While there is a considerable body of research on teacher feedback as a critical factor in support of students’ knowledge construction and achievement in science, this research is yet to address linguistic diversity. This paper will report on an exploratory investigation that examined frequency and quality of written feedback received by ELLs from their teachers on several types of student work. We found that ELLs received higher-quality feedback with less frequency than non-ELL students for some types of student work. Ultimately, this investigation addresses feedback as key to effective and equitable formative assessment for ELLs.

Authors:
Xueyu Zhao, Duke Kunshan University, China
Guillermo Solano-Flores, Stanford University, United States

About the Presenter(s)
Dr. Xueyu Zhao is a Senior Lecturer in the Language and Culture Center at Duke Kunshan University in China. Her research focuses on international test comparisons, test translations, and cultural and linguistic issues in large-scale assessments.

Additional website of interest
https://scholars.duke.edu/person/xueyu.zhao

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