ES retroalimentación / CAT retroalimentació / FR rétroaction / DE Feedback

If assessment is understood as communication, feedback (or evaluative comments) refers to guidance offered in the course of the learning process. This guidance need not be subsequent to the process, though if prior to the process it is more properly called feedforward. Feedback is intended to share information that will provoke refelction about how some specific contents are being or will be taught and learned, and how the teaching and learning processes can be guided and improved. It thus constitutes a form of pedagogical support, whose common language is that of the assessment criteria and indicators of achievement shared in the learning task.

According to Allal (1979), formative assessment may be conceived, in its application, either as retroactive regulation (feedback) of learning or as interactive regulation (feedforward). Retroactive regulation is more typical of a behaviorist conception, whose most common procedure is an isolated assessment of the unachieved goals. On the other hand, interactive regulation (feedforward) is more directly linked to a socio-constructivist view of learning and is understood as performing a constant process of regulation between assessment and the teaching and learning process with the goal of future improvement. This kind of regulation places primary emphasis not on how a task has been carried out, but rather on how can it potentially be carried out (Harris and McCann 1994): in this way, possible problems and pitfalls are anticipated and prevented (Figueras and Puig 2019).

References

  • Allal, Linda (1979). Strategies d'évaluation formative: conceptions psychopédagogiques et modalités d'application. En Allal, L. et al. (Eds.). L'évaluation formative d'un enseignement differencié. Berna: Peter Lang, 130-156. [Trad. cast: "Estrategias de evaluación formativa. Concepciones psicopedagógicas y modalidades de aplicación". En Infancia y Aprendizaje, 11, 4-22].
  • Figueras, Neus y Puig, Fuensanta (2019). La evaluación: ¿de camino hacia el cambio?. En López Ferrero, C. y Pujolà (Eds.). La didáctica de lenguas de par en par. Diálogo entre teoría y práctica. Homenaje a Ernesto Martín Peris, 84-112.
  • Harris, Michael y McCann, Paul (1994). Assessment. Oxford: Heinemann.
  • Padilla, Constanza y Esther López (2019). Prácticas de retroalimentación en aulas universitarias de humanidades: comentarios digitales docentes y perfiles estudiantiles de escritor. Revista Signos, 52(100), 330-356.