Responding to student writing is a big part–and often the most difficult and time-consuming part–of teaching a writing-intensive course. This page contains some ideas about how to make our responses both useful for students and manageable for us as instructors. Check out the database, too, which has loads of sample Syllabi and Calendars; Assignments; Feedback tools; and Peer Review exercises.
We might begin by reflecting on why we respond to student work at all. Quite apart from needing to give and justify grades, we offer feedback as part of an ongoing dialogue with students about their ideas and how they are expressed. Moreover, as Nancy Sommers explains in her short article, Responding to Student Writing, our comments “dramatize the presence of a reader” (148) and help students to view their own work from an outside perspective, a vital skill in learning to evaluate and improve their writing.
In FYS courses in particular, moreover, we offer feedback we hope will aid students as they build skills and confidence as writers more generally. Ideally, our responses foster the many facets of intellectual growth students experience in their first semesters, as they become better writers and, in so doing, better readers, discussants, thinkers, and creators.
Bearing all this in mind, then, a few ideas come to the fore to guide us in giving feedback and assessment in the FYS.
(1) Don’t over do it! Writers can only take in so much feedback at a time so be strategic. You might try giving an end note that describes 2-3 areas to focus on in later drafts or future writing projects. Pair this end note with a few specific in-text comments that show students where in their writing, you noticed a disruption in logic or a lack of analysis. So, too, might you focus on sharing your thoughts on one higher-order concern such as content, use of sources, depth of analysis, and organization (HOCs) and one lower-order concern such as syntax, punctuation, and citations (LOCs). If the two are connected, explain how. For example, a clunky sentence might be related to an underdeveloped idea.
(2) Provide feedback that reinforces writing as a process as described here. Consider sharing ideas of how students can integrate your feedback into their thinking for other writing projects. Try phrases like “In future writing projects, you might try to….” And don’t be afraid to be specific! Let them in on your writing process, too, by suggesting they try a technique while brainstorming or think about transitions more as they refine their argument in the drafting stage.
(3) Read like a peer-reviewer rather than a teacher. Try to read your students’ work the same way you read that of your colleagues. Do not look for error or deficit. Instead, try to meet them where they are at in their thinking and writing as you would when working with someone in your field.
(4) Encourage students to think more deeply about the issues. In your comments, try to build a bridge between a student’s current appreciation of the complexity of course material and your own. You can do this by probing, connecting one text or concept to another, contrasting one point with another, and so on. Such comments can be a kind of apprenticeship in thinking like an expert, a way of inviting students to take a step or two forward in your shoes.
(5) Ask questions instead of identifying weaknesses. Studies show that students respond better to a question such as “Can you explain this idea in an additional sentence or two?” than to a criticism such as “This is vague” or “This is unclear.” You can even ask a question about a LOC such as, “did you mean for this verb tense to shift?” By their nature, questions are easier to respond to than criticisms. Questions also arise clearly from specific moments in a paper, which shows students that you are responding to them rather than unthinkingly giving everyone the same advice. And questions reinforce an emphasis on writing as communication rather than task-completion.
(6) Invite students to consider their larger purposes and goals in writing the piece. To help students write with conviction and force, ask them questions about the implications and stakes of their ideas and arguments. Who is their audience and how does that shape the order their ideas unfold? If someone were to describe their essay to a friend, what would they say? Prompt your students to ask these questions of themselves to help them make their thoughts clearer and more refined.
(7) Consider the values you are trying to honor and direct your feedback toward them. Actually making a list of these values can be extremely illuminating and helpful in guiding your responses to student writing. These values aren’t exactly the same thing as learning goals, though they may overlap a lot. As Tony Scott and Asao B. Inoue explain, “whatever is emphasized in an assessment produces what is defined as ‘good writing’ in a class, a program, or a curriculum. Likewise, what is not emphasized becomes less important and may not be considered characteristic of good writing” (Naming What We Know 30).
(8) For students whose first dominant language isn’t English that are struggling with language use, gently point out sentence level confusion. Try to focus on identifying patterns rather than correcting a students’ writing. Quite often language learners know the rules, but they haven’t proceduralized them yet. By having them address sentence level confusion on their own, they will get better at noticing such moments. This process takes time so be patient. Moreover, some English grammatical rules, such as articles (a/an/the) and prepositions, don’t translate literally across languages, making them especially hard to get a grasp on.