Did you ever sit down with your English teacher to discuss your learning? I did not. Still, it would have meant the world to me! No feedback, not even once! It would have meant the world to me!

This article will deal with 1) Development discussion, 2) Giving positive feedback, 3) Observation and feedback forms and 4) Phrases to be used in giving feedback

Development discussion

When you have observed and followed the progress of the students for a few months it is beneficial to have a short discussion alone with each student about his or her attitudes toward English and English lessons, his or her skills and future goals in English or mother tongue if needed.

In Finland we call it ‘Development Discussion’. I think the connotation attached to the term ‘Development Discussion’ is more positive than ‘Performance Appraisal’ even if they basically mean the same thing. Explain to the students beforehand what it is all about and why you are having it. Give the rest of the class independent work while you are running these discussions.

You need about 3–5 precious minutes per student if you have prepared yourself and the students well. Preparation means filling in the obserbvation form in advance:

• The student fills in the form introduced in the article ‘AfL, Observation with Criteria, Self-Assessment‘ (ok even if done in the mother tongue).
• The teacher fills in the same form but ‘I’ has been replaced with ‘you’. It is the sample form you find below (meant for junior high classes and needs to be modified for other classes).

Depending on the student the focus may be on one or more of the four skill areas: Social skills, Study skills, Attitude/Motivation and Language proficiency. If you are giving feedback on one skill only, two to three minutes per student may be enough. The others are working independently during that lesson.

Collect the observation forms and other evaluation papers before the development discussion since it may give you some background knowledge of the students’ self-esteem as an English learner. Make your markings on the student’s observation sheet.

There is no harm done if the development discussion is done in the mother tongue if the level of the students requires that. Make the situation relaxed, encouraging and eliminate fear. ‘I’m on your side’ atmosphere. You are teaching human skills, not only English!

How to be tactful and give positive feedback

1. Give some positive feedback first on any of the skill areas to make the student feel happy and relaxed. Don’t voice the negative points but let the student say them and try to solve the problem.
2. Let the student reveal his/her self-assessments. It is better you do not show your assessment form to the student until the end of the discussion. Why not? Because the student will stop analyzing his/her assessments, if you do.
3. If the student does not know what to say, turn the challenging issue to a question and ask the student’s opinion about it: “You marked ‘homework’ with C, why? What can you do about it? Is there anything you are not pleased with in your group or pair work?” etc.
4. If the students cannot suggest a solution, send I-messages which will reveal your caring attitude; Asking for clarification: “Am I right in saying that you find homework boring?” or Expressing concern: “What I worry is that it seems hard for you to work if there is too much noise in the class.”
5. Avoid words like ‘but, however, nevertheless, nonetheless‘. They bring the positive feedback to zero. (This is surprising but psychologically true!)
6. Teachers often pay too much attention to assessing language skills only. The other skills may give you a real chance to praise the student for his/her efforts. Repeat the most positive feedback at the end.  And encourage genuinely.

Remember that the students will forget your words quicker than the feelings the discussion evoked in them.

Observation and feedback form to be used in the development discussion.

N.B. This is only a sample and you need to modify it for your own purposes and classes. For some classes it may be in mother tongue.

A = always, B = often, C =sometimes, D = seldom, E = never

Study skills	A	B	C	D	E
You always study hard at school and at home.
You always do your homework by yourself.
You use very many ways to learn English better.
You know how to use dictionaries and the internet.
You always finish the tasks given to you.
Social skills	A	B	C	D	E
You co-operate very well in pairs and groups.
You are kind and always follow the class rules.
You help others willingly and ask for help too.
You control your own and other students’ behaviour.
You encourage the shy and quiet ones.
Motivation and attitude	A	B	C	D	E
You want to work hard alone, in pairs and groups.
You try to find new ways of learning English.
You want to learn English outside school as well.
You practise speaking alone and with others.
You read and write English in your free time.
Language skills	A	B	C	D	E
Your spelling is nearly free from mistakes.
Your writing is logical and convincing.
Your vocabulary is developing well.
Your pronunciation is very good and clear.
Your speaking is fluent and with good ideas.
Your listening skills are very good.
Your reading skills are excellent.
You can use grammar taught to you very well.

Making the feedback a positive experience.

The comforting comments below can be made to an individual or to the whole class.

• Remember that you have not done this before. All of this takes time.
• Let’s keep things in perspective – what you did today was a very demanding thing to do and still you managed so well. 
• Remember this skill is a hard one and nobody can do it straight away. There simply are so many things to take into account. 
• You already master points A, B and C so all you have to do is to get the last thing done the way you want it and that’s it.
•  I remember when I was trying to do this for the first time. It was nowhere near of what you accomplished here.   
• Most people I know struggle with the same issue and with a bit of an effort success becomes routine for you.  Practice makes perfect!  
• What I encourage others to do is that they speak the whole presentation aloud many times at home.  Nervousness is natural but we can fight it back by rehearsing the lines aloud at home.                                             
• The way you handled the moment when you lost the trail of your thought was great and natural.                             
• It seems to me you know what to do better next time. Right? 
• Now I think you know how to deal with these issues next time, don’t you? So what’s your action plan for the next presentation? You seem to be improving fast now.                                          
• All in all, the way you are improving as a class is just wonderful. I’m truly proud of you.

Modified heavily from ‘Which kind of observer are you’ by Luke Prodromou IATEFL Newsletter 2004