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As ITA instructors, we’ve all met students and TAs who don’t
think they have anything to learn in our classes. Why? Because they’ve
never gotten any feedback to the contrary—perhaps not even from
well-meaning ESL instructors. Working with these stubborn students is
generally frustrating because even though they may do required
assignments, they generally don’t internalize what they’re learning and
use the concepts to improve their language in general; they just don’t
see the need.
After meeting a particularly obstinate student this summer, I decided
to face the problem head-on and address this “my English is just fine”
mentality. I began on a day where students were expecting to present. As
a review, I had them pair off and present to their partner. Each was
asked to listen to the other and provide partner feedback. Next, instead
of actually allowing students to present in front of class, we had a
class discussion. I asked students about the feedback they gave to their
classmates: Did they focus on small, fixable things? Did they admit
when they didn’t understand pronunciation or ideas? Did they avoid the
negatives altogether and focus only on the positives? Even worse, did
students simply smile and nod in a way that seemed approving, but was a
result of their lack of understanding? Some admitted avoiding problems.
Others were more hesitant, but when asked to summarize their partner’s
speech, they had to come clean.
Knowing that they wouldn’t give negative feedback—in an English
class where they need to improve—I asked them to consider the feedback
they have received from peers or professors: What was said and, more
important, what wasn’t said.
After this discussion, I introduced some ideas about the psychology of
feedback to put it all in perspective. I had difficulty finding sources
to talk about “honest feedback” in ESL or education in general, but I
found several good sources in the business world. For example, Young
“believes there are three main reasons people do not give honest
feedback:
- They don’t want to damage relationships.
- They want to be supportive.
- They don’t realize they are lying to you.” [emphasis added] (2007)
Seiter points out that “our brains view criticism as a threat to our
survival” (2014). This is why as instructors and as students we like to
keep things positive, focusing on small fixable things or simply
encouraging a student or peer with positive feedback. But through these
positive efforts, we may be ignoring the proverbial elephant in the
room. This relates back to Young’s (2007) idea mentioned above, people
may not realize they’re doing it, but they’re basically lying in order
to keep the relationship light and to be perceived as supporting.
So where do we, as ITA professionals and students (who will soon be TAs
themselves) go from here? Young (2007) outlines 10 points for the
business world. In my classroom, I have adapted four of his ten points
into three key areas for students to focus on:
- Accept criticism—all of it. Don’t hate the
messenger or the message. Recognize the value in honest, insightful
feedback—whether it be good or bad. The only way to improve is to look
at what is being said and work your way through it. Find solutions, make
changes, and check back with your evaluator to see if you have made a
meaningful improvement.
- Ask the right questions. When getting
feedback from classmates or outside the class, ask specific questions
about your performance instead of asking for a general idea. Also, ask
those specific questions before speaking/presenting so evaluators know
what to look for.
- Pull out gradual honesty and develop
trust. Cultivate honest feedback by making it clear, time and
time again, that you will accept criticism and not let it damage the
relationship. As Proverbs says, “Faithful are the wounds of a friend.”
By recognizing the value of honest feedback we can build stronger
relationships.
Have these things changed my classroom or the attitude of my
students? Immediately after, I saw them trying to be more honest with
each other—admitting when they didn’t understand and asking for
repetitions and clarifications. There is also more of a willingness to
ask me for my opinion on specific issues we have discussed previously.
This means I don’t have to work quite so hard to get my students to
truly listen to my feedback and begin to improve.
References
Young, S. H. (2007, June 18). 10 must-have steps to getting honest
feedback. Retrieved from http://www.scotthyoung.com/blog/2007/06/18/10-must-have-steps-to-getting-honest-feedback/
Seiter, C. (2014, December 9). How to give and receive feedback at
work: The psychology of criticism. Retrieved from https://open.bufferapp.com/how-to-give-receive-feedback-work/
Liz Tummons is the ITA program director for the University of
Missouri. She is the current chair of the ITAIS. And in her capacity as
chair, she chose to write up this teaching tip instead of following her
initial inclination of whining about the fact that the newsletter was
short on articles. |
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