Feedback is one of the most powerful influences on learning and achievement, but this impact can be either positive or negative. Its power is frequently mentioned in articles about learning and teaching, but surprisingly few recent studies have systematically investigated its meaning. This article provides a conceptual analysis of feedback and reviews the evidence related to its impact on learning and achievement. This evidence shows that although feedback is among the major influences, the type of feedback and the way it is given can be differentially effective. A model of feedback is then proposed that identifies the particular properties and circumstances that make it effective, and some typically thorny issues are discussed, including the timing of feedback and the effects of positive and negative feedback. Finally, this analysis is used to suggest ways in which feedback can be used to enhance its effectiveness in classrooms.

http://www.columbia.edu/~mvp19/ETF/Feedback.pdf

The Power of Feedback

The present study examines cross-cultural perceptions of causal attributions pertinent to success and failure in achievement-related contexts. Two groups of participants(taxi drivers and civil servants) from five nations (Belgium, West Germany, India, South Korea, and England) rated 22 causal ascriptions (including ability, effort, task difficulty, and luck) on four causal properties (locus, stability, controllability, and globality). There was high agreement among the two social class groups as well as among four of the nations regarding the ratings of specific causes on the causal dimensions. However, Indian respondents rated all causes as more external, variable, and uncontrollable than did participants from the other cultures. With the exception of the Indian data, the results suggest that a priori classifications of causal attributions have cross-cultural validity and that causal dimensions suggested by attribution theorists capture basic aspects of the meanings of causes that are shared in different...

Perceiving the Causes of Success and Failure A Cross-Cultural Examination of Attributional Concepts

Undernutrition in infancy and early childhood is thought to adversely affect cognitive development, although evidence of lasting effects is not well established. With the use of data from the Cebu Longitudinal Health and Nutrition Study, we assesshere the relationship between stunting in the first 2 y of life and later cognitive development, focusing on the significance of severity, timing and persistence of early stunting. The sample included > 2000 Filipino children administered a cognitive ability test at ages 8 and 11 y. Stunting status was determined on the basis of anthropometric data collected prospectively between birth and age 2 y. Children stunted between birth and age 2 y had significantly lower test scores than nonstunted children, especially when stunting was severe. The shortfall in test scores among children stunted in the first 2 y was strongly related to reduced schooling, which was the result of a substantial delay in initial enrollment as well as higher absenteeism and repetition of school years among stunted children. Interactions between stunting and schooling were not significant, indicating that stunted and nonstunted children benefitted similarly from additional schooling. After multivariate adjustment, severe stunting at age 2 y remained significantly associated with later deficits in cognitive ability. The timing of stunting was also related to test performance, largely because children stunted very early also tended to be severely stunted (chi(2) P = 0.000). Deficits in children's scores were smaller at age 11 y than at age 8 y, suggesting that adverse effects may decline over time. Results emphasize the need to prevent early stunting and to provide adequate schooling to disadvantaged children.

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Severity and Timing of Stunting in the First Two Years of Life Affect Performance on Cognitive Tests in Late Childhood

A Confucian-Socratic framework is used to analyze culture's influence on academic learning. Socrates, a Western exemplar, valued private and public questioning of widely accepted knowledge and expected students to evaluate others' beliefs and to generate and express their own hypotheses. Confucius, an Eastern exemplar, valued effortful, respectful, and pragmatic acquisition of essential knowledge as well as behavioral reform. Expressions of these approaches in modern postsecondary contexts are discussed, as are the effects these approaches may have for students who either fit or do not fit the cultural ideal.

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Learning considered within a cultural context. Confucian and Socratic approaches.

Background. In recent decades, two lines of research, phenomenographic and meta-cognitive, have examined students' approaches and epistemological beliefs about learning. To date there has been very little research describing the change in epistemological beliefs in European secondary students, or analysing interrelationships between epistemological beliefs and approaches in order to explain their influence on academic performance.

Aims. The first aim of this investigation is to analyse the change in epistemological beliefs and learning approaches in secondary students as they progress through their studies. The second aim is to examine the effects of epistemological beliefs on learning approaches, and learning approaches on academic performance.

Sample. About 1,600 Spanish students, boys and girls, from several secondary schools took part in the study. They were between 12 and 20 years old and their average age was 14.79 years.

Methods. Measures of epistemological beliefs (EQ: Epistemological Questionnaire), learning approaches (LPQ: Learning Process Questionnaire), and academic performance were obtained. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to examine the dimensionality of the EQ and LPQ questionnaires. In order to achieve our two aims, different statistical techniques were used: MANOVA and ANOVA for our first aim, and structural equation modelling for our second aim.

Results. Throughout secondary education epistemological beliefs undergo change, becoming more realistic and complex, and deep-approach scores decline significantly. It was shown that, as predicted, epistemological beliefs influenced academic achievement directly, and also indirectly via students' learning approaches.

Conclusions. Our findings point to two conclusions. First, epistemological beliefs and learning approaches change as pupils advance in their studies. Second, the relationship between epistemological beliefs and academic achievement is mediated by approaches to learning.

Epistemological beliefs and approaches to learning: Their change through secondary school and their influence on academic performance

Two studies are reported which compare the responses of 14‐16 year old Filipino and Nepalese school students to learning process questionnaires based on the 3P Model of Learning (Biggs & Telfer, 1987) to those previously reported for similar aged Australian and Hong Kong students. Evidence was found for a similar structure of learning processes in each culture. Moreover, in each culture students who reported deeper and more achievement‐oriented approaches to learning tended to be more successful academically and to have higher academic self‐esteem. However, little evidence was found to support the contention that Asian learners were more prone to rote learning than were the Australians. The Nepalese students in particular tended to report higher levels of both deep and achieving approaches to learning than the other students. A possible explanation for this is that the conceptions of learning on which the 3P Model is based may not be appropriate in Nepalese culture.

The-Asian-Learner-as-a-Rote-Learner Stereotype: Myth or Reality?.

Summary. The responses of 212 male and 213 female Filipino students to the short version of Entwistle's Approaches to Studying Inventory (ASI-S), measures of self-esteem, locus of control, and field-independence were obtained at two testing sessions six months apart. A comparison of the factor structure of the responses to the ASI-S at both points in time confirmed the relative stability of the underlying dimensions. A multivariate analysis of variance indicated a main effect over time (i.e., that the student's approach to learning had changed significantly) but these changes were not related to sex, IQ, school grade, self-esteem, locus of control, or field independence. It appears that as these students progressed through secondary school many of them came to rely less on rote learning methods but this change was not related to the personological variables examined here.

Approaches to studying by filipino students: a longitudinal investigation

Evidence is presented partially supporting the reliability and construct validity of the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory with Filipino girls. For a re-test sample of 193 Filipinas, 11-13 years of...

The Reliability and Validity of the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory for a Sample of Filipino High School Girls.

Summary In an investigation with 173 Filipino high school girls (ages 11 to 13 years), school achievement correlated .64 with IQ and .33 with self-esteem as measured by the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory. Multiple regression analysis showed that the addition of self-esteem to the predictor set accounted for only an extra 3.9% of the variance of school achievement (statistically significant but low), beyond that accounted for by IQ alone.

Self-Esteem and School Achievement of Filipino Girls

This study of attributions for performance in a forthcoming major examination of 261 Filipino secondary-school children indicates that Weiner et al.'s (1971) two-dimensional/four-category model of causal attribution was too restrictive. It does, however, lend some support to Weiner's (1979) reconceptualization of this process. Investigation of the antecedent and study method correlates showed that both are linked to attributions in systematic ways consistent with attribution theory but differing for boys and girls.

Estela Astilla

Papers

The-Asian-Learner-as-a-Rote-Learner Stereotype: Myth or Reality?.

Approaches to studying by filipino students: a longitudinal investigation

The Reliability and Validity of the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory for a Sample of Filipino High School Girls.

Self-Esteem and School Achievement of Filipino Girls

The Dimensionality, Antecedents, and Study Method Correlates of the Causal Attribution of Filipino Children