Value of Feedback and Student-Teacher Relationship to Learning

¶ … teacher perceives a student has strong impact on the latter's learning, interest and accomplishment (Hattie & Timperley, 2007 as qtd in Thomas et al., 2012). A social cognitive theory framework demonstrates this strong influence. Psychologist Albert Bandura identified social persuasions as one of the major sources of self-efficacy, or one's self-confidence to accomplish a task. Students with higher self-efficacy have been observed to achieve more than others academically and persistently. Positive perception or feedback from the teacher, therefore, raises a student's level of self-efficacy while a negative or critical perception discourages it. Teacher feedback of positive, ability-focused and effort-focused are associated with higher academic accomplishment in Mathematics. Studies also show that positive feedback from the teacher is evenly distributed between boys and girls in the area of Mathematics. But, in general, boys receive more negative feedback than girls (Burnett, 2002 as qtd in Thomas et al.).

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Perceived Teacher Caring

A study linked the construct of "perceived caring" in a teacher to a sense of goodwill by the student (Teves & McCroskey, 1996). It is also interpreted as a perception of credibility. It all means that a student who perceives his teacher as caring of him will perceive her and the course more positively and will tend to learn more from it. The study was conducted with 235 volunteer students in a Communications class at an Eastern university. Competence and trustworthiness were measured. The results implied that a student's perception of caring in his teacher was connected to or influenced his own positive perception of her and the subject and his perception of his own learning (Teves & McCroskey).

Teacher Student Relationship Inventory

Another study was conducted wherein 84 teachers rated 500 American high school student (Suldo et al., 2011). Instrumental help, satisfaction and conflict emerged as factors in students' ratings of their relationships with their teachers. The study found no connection between instrumental help and students' overall perception of their relationship with their teachers. Rather, it correlated the students' psychological with academic achievement. Instrumental help also correlated with symptoms of psychopathology. The study concluded that how American adolescents rated their teachers was particularly relevant and associated with their academic standing and psych0logical condition (Suldo et al.).

The Personal Value of Feedback to Students

Although feedback is a valuable indicator of learning, not many studies have directly addressed what students think about it (Rowe, 2011). A study explored the issue as part of a bigger research, which looked into the reasons for the reported low feedback ratings in the higher education institutions. The study used quantitative data on students' perception and preferences for feedback as well as questions on what they considered important and how to improve the feedback they were getting. The study concluded that students are inclined to succeed in a learning environment where their social needs are filled and where they feel they are cared for. This means that the importance, which students attach to feedback, reflects the teacher's response and perception of them as persons. It also emphasized the importance of equally considering both positive and negative feedback (Rowe).

Learning and Student-Teacher Relationship

Even the scanty studies on this relationship, observation and experience provide evidence on the connection between a positive relationship and a student's favorable academic performance and social behavior (Kaufman & Sandilos, 2015). Teachers have reported that students who developed closeness with them were less tardy, had fewer absences, and were more cooperative, diligent and self-directed in their learning. These teachers also used more learner-centered practices raised their students' motivation level better than those who less engaged in these practices. These practices included a display of sensitivity to individual differences among the students, included them in the decision-making tasks, and recognized as well as responded to students' developmental, personal ad relationship needs. These findings specifically applied to students in Math classes. Those who received higher emotional support also engaged in greater Math learning. They even showed willingness to help their classmates. This tendency was also observed in kindergarten settings wherein students had close relationships with their teachers. They showed greater liking for school and exhibited less loneliness (Kaufman & Sandilos).

Effective Feedback

Feedback is information on how a person or student is progressing in pursuing a given task or goal (Wiggins, 2012). It does not consist of advice, evaluation and grades. It is a response or a reaction after something is done. In essence, it appears as an evaluation, except that it is a spontaneous one, rather than a technically evaluated result of a formal procedure It does not always have to be verbal or written. Sometimes, it can be a laugh, a handshake or a clap. But it serves as a value judgment of what has just been done. Some examples of true feedback are he emotional effect of the task on another person; how the task affects the perceiver, positively or negatively; or a comment from the perceiver about how the task was done. Feedback is not intentionally solicited. It is spontaneously expressed. Whether it is volunteered by an observer or waiting to be sensed by the performer or student, effective or useful feedback has certain qualities or keys. That feedback is goal-related or goal-referenced, concrete and transparent, actionable, specific and personal, timely, current, and consistent. It is goal-related or referenced because it is a reaction to how the goal is pursued. It is concrete and transparent in that anyone can learn from it. It is actionable when the action is descriptive and can be done better or in another way. It is specific and personal if it is meant for the particular person and his particular task. It is timely when it is expressed or grasped right after the performance of the action, not after a period of time has lapsed. It is current in that the action has chances of being performed better, as in the case of classroom activities. And it is consistent, especially in the classroom, when the feedback is accurate, solid and can be trusted (Wiggins).