[Seminar] Towards Broader Conceptions of Feedback by Prof. David Carless

  Written corrective feedback in applied linguistics is largely based on an old paradigm of teacher transmission of information with little regard for students’ goals, interests or motivations. This approach is bound to remain a poor investment of teacher resources. Applied linguistics research and practice might make better use of insights from its parent discipline of education.

Drawing on material from our recent book (Winstone & Carless, 2019), I elaborate on the rationale for a new paradigm of feedback processes involving students in generating, seeking and using feedback. I illustrate some possibilities through the discussion of training and coaching students in carrying out peer feedback in an English writing course at a university in Taiwan. A key insight relates to the mutual development of teacher and student feedback literacy.

Professor David Carless is the Head of Social Contexts and Policies in Education (SCAPE) at the Faculty of Education, University of Hong Kong. In his thirty-year residency in Hong Kong, he has worked as an English teacher in a local secondary school, an English instructor in tertiary education, a teacher educator and a researcher. After an early career as an applied linguist, Professor Carless took up a research interest in learning-oriented assessment. In recent years, he has specialized in feedback research and practice in higher education, and is one of the most cited scholars in this field. His signature publication is the book Excellence in University Assessment: Learning from Award-winning Practice (2015, Routledge). His new co-authored book came out in July 2019: Winstone, N. & Carless, D. (2019). Designing effective feedback processes in higher education: A learning-focused approach. London: Routledge. Further details of his work are on his website: https://davidcarless.edu.hku.hk/