Teacher comments further help students to recognize and build upon their prior knowledge and educational experiences, giving important support to second language students. As such, providing effective feedback on students written work can be an important learning moment. It is an excellent opportunity for teachers to motivate students toward more language growth and academic achievement. Teachers can take advantage of these critical learning moments without becoming overwhelmed by the work involved. Your responses to these questions will help develop purposeful and effective feedback for all second language learners.
Most teachers provide feedback to increase student learning in specific areas.
Although content and language areas are inextricably related, for practical reasons teachers should focus their feedback on one or the other as a learning objective. Offering a focal point for student response is especially important with language minority students. Students given feedback on either language or content in isolation improved in the respective area of concentration. Students were asked to do too much in too many directions without knowing how to weigh their reactions to the teacher s feedback. Focusing on one learning objective at a time eliminates this overload, is simpler for the teacher, and creates an effective learning moment for students.