Blog Post #3: Feedback: The Most Powerful Tool To Improve Writing
Hi everyone! I just got off reading through 'What’s That Supposed to Mean? Using Feedback on Your Writing' today and thought of sharing my first thoughts about it!
The author, Jillian Grauman, mentions that providing feedback is indeed a challenging task. Providing feedback to students is one of the most challenging parts of a composition instructor’s job (Caswell; Straub, Practice). At the same time, making use of that feedback (whether provided by a professor, tutor, or classmate) is just as challenging for students! Grauman further highlights that reviewing feedback on writing is supposed to improve our quality of writing. Using a lot of feedback (especially negative) received on writing makes us rethink our abilities as writers, and perhaps raise some self-doubts about abilities as well. As a result, we don't like to look at it often and simply ignore it. However, the value of feedback is so profound and proven that it can help us think of our own thought process, and therefore helps build our skills to write even more effectively in the future.
I relate to the common challenges that Grauman mentions as regards how to use the feedback, and particularly the steps he recommends we follow to make good use of this feedback. These actions backed by examples of how real students used their feedback to improve their writing, makes this particularly informative and exciting reading.
Some of his recommendations:
· Have a growth mindset! Believe that your writing can be improved through feedback. I have myself often thought about how my writing can be improved. I sought (often after lots of hesitation) and was fortunate to receive a lot of feedback myself from my teachers and friends. However, the real improvements actually started the day, I started believing that the feedback I receive would significantly transform my writing.
· You are not alone! Even expert writers have to learn and grow as they adapt their writing for new audiences, purposes, and constraints. So, don’t feel shy or overwhelmed when seeking feedback!
· Don’t need to take all suggestions offered to you—especially if they run counter to your goals. Rather, decide whether the suggestions align with what you want to accomplish! Be all ears, but decide what works best for you!
In fact, I came across something similar while reading about a study on 'Assessor or Assessee: How Student Learning Improves by Giving and Receiving Peer Feedback' by Li, Liu and Steckelberg. This study found that peer assessment yields cognitive benefits for both assessors and assessees in multiple ways: constructive reflection, increased time on task, attention to crucial elements of quality work, as well as a greater sense of accountability and responsibility. Here is the link to this interesting study on how the authors arrived at this conclusion. I recommend a quick scan through, at your leisure!
As always, let me leave you with an interesting video on this topic that explains how to use others' feedback to develop writing skills:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQNbaKkYk_Q