It has been
a long time since I have received feedback on an English paper so my memories
of those instances are fading. I recall getting feedback on first drafts,
second drafts, and my final paper. I know that I was normally open to the
feedback and wanted to get better. That was even truer for feedback on my
Spanish writing assignments more recently. Since Spanish is not my native
language, I knew that I needed a great amount of help and I really wanted to
become fluent and get better. One of my Spanish professors would use codes to
mark our papers. She passed out a key to those codes that we were supposed to
use throughout the semester. There would be a short abbreviated code or mark on
our paper when a mistake was made on adjective noun agreement, verb subjective
agreement, spelling or accents, and so forth. I thought that was a great way to
give feedback and I use the same method when my Spanish 3 and 4 students have a
writing assignment. Honestly, I cannot think of feedback that was problematic.
There might have been some way back during my English classes. Again I was desperate for all feedback in the
much more recent Spanish class.
The
responses I have received in content and form over the years would be
appropriate for L2 writers. I believe this way from my experiences as a L2
writer of Spanish. Whenever I had a writing assignment in Spanish I wanted to
know when I made grammatical errors, and when I used the wrong word. I didn’t
feel like the paper was good unless it was free of grammatical mistakes. Having
said that, I do believe there are times in the writing process when the teacher
can just focus on content and in later drafts start focusing on every aspect of
writing. In those instances, I think it is best for teachers to really convey
to students what they are expecting of them and tell them upfront that you are
not looking at their grammatical errors or form. That way they are not under
the illusion that the mistakes are alright but rather alright for the time
being.
As I think
about my responses to writing, I am most worried about giving them accurate
information. I feel like I have to continue to learn and get better as a writer
myself so that I can help others. Sometimes I feel like I need to make sure on
my feedback in Spanish because it is not my native language. I have to be
careful that I am always correct and not misleading students. On the other hand,
even though English is my native language I was not an English major but
instead a History and Spanish major. Those that were English majors will have a
leg up on me in regards to their English language skills so I need to catch up
for the sake of my future English students. Before taking this class I was already
a strong believer in the reading-writing connection so I read many books in
Spanish and English and I will continue to do that.
I think peer
feedback is good in certain situations. As a student I was somewhat skeptical
at times when taking advice from someone on my level compared to a teacher that
has years of experience. This is especially the case with receiving advice from
another L2 writer. When taking advice in English we were at least both native
English speakers. Peer feedback and collaborating activities are strategies I
want to use in my classroom. Even though students are not on the same level as
teachers that doesn’t mean that positive feedback can’t occur. There will definitely
be positive feedback. What I prefer is to have peer feedback towards the
beginning of the writing process to help cut down on errors, but have teacher
feedback towards the end of the process such as the second or third draft to
help fine tune the paper. The teacher
could also correct possible bad advice given out by another student. The peer
reviews should make life easier on the teacher because it should cut down on
the errors the teacher has to correct. I wouldn’t want only peer reviews until
you get to the Final draft because there are some mistakes even the best
students will not see compared to what the writing instructor will notice.
