If the student senses that you care, they will start to care as well. If the teacher does not care about the welfare of the students, why should they care about the teacher and the subject.
To learn the skill of giving constructive feedback took me a long time. But I did get better in doing that – by trial and error method. Quite a lot of principles to remember!
Feedback comments to encourage your students
The expressions below can be softened by adding ‘I think …’ ‘I have got a feeling that …’ ‘I am very pleased that …’ ‘It seems to me that …’ to them.
‘I think …’ You participate enthusiastically in discussion.
‘I’ve got a feeling that …’ You are superior in dividing work in your group.
‘I am very pleased that …’ You listen to and follow directions well.
‘It seems to me that …’ You express ideas clearly and logically.
You will find 55 sample comments below that you can use in giving positive feedback to your students, those in senior high school or over 16 years of age. You will, however, notice that in practice you will use less than 10 phrases in the development discussion because you need to lure the students to say many of the ideas themselves.
SOCIAL SKILLS – feedback comments
‘I think …’ ‘I have got a feeling that …’ ‘I am very pleased that …’ ‘It seems to me that …’ USE THESE PHRASES TO SOFTEN THE MESSAGE
| 1 The other students seem to admire you for your calmness. |
| 2 You have demonstrated great organizational skills. |
| 3 You enjoy dramatization and encourage the others well. |
| 4 I love to watch you working in groups and get the others back on track. |
| 5 You have a great sense of humour and you lighten up the atmosphere. |
| 6 The others say you are the one who encourages others most. |
| 7 Your classmates like to be around you. |
| 8 You are often the thoughtful leader in the group discussions. |
| 9 You have developed more positive ways to interact with others. |
| 10 The way you cooperate with others in group work is exemplary. |
| 11 I admire your willingness to take responsibilities and follow them through. |
| 12 What you are particularly good at is dividing work in your group. |
| 13 You follow my directions well and advise the others if they do not get what I mean. |
| 14 The way you treat the shy ones is superior to anyone else in class. |
| 15 It is you the classmates turn to if they have a problem in English. |
STUDY SKILLS – feedback comments
| 1 You have started to do your homework well and it shows in class too. |
| 2 The others have noticed how you concentrate on learning much better this year. |
| 3 Despite your hobbies you seem to manage your time well. |
| 4 The strategy you follow in essay writing works beautifully now. |
| 5 I’m so pleased that you seem to rely on yourself now. |
| 6 You solved the problem with multiple choice questions and your open-ended answers are superb. |
| 7 You probably realize yourself how much your vocabulary has expanded in just a few months. The tips seem to work well. |
| 8 You are gaining academic skills, such as using effective learning strategies. |
| 9 The way you pronounce English is music to my ears, just like native speakers. Recording your own speech on the phone was a great idea. |
| 10 You are consistent in using English all through the lessons. |
| 11 I’ve noticed how you help the others to find information quickly in the internet. |
| 12 You have become so good at expressing your opinins that I suggest you will take part in our next school debate. |
| 13 Reading newspapers and magazines in the internet has improved your reading skills tremendously. |
| 14 I’m glad you don’t worry about grammatical mistakes any more and still you make fewer and fewer of them these days. |
| 15 You seem to have found your own style of learning English better. And you even give hints to others. |
ATTITUDE and MOTIVATION – comments
| 1 You have realized that you are an auditive learner and youtube seems to serve you well. |
| 2 The others have noticed how you take more and more pride in the way you make progress. |
| 3 You have understood how important the learning tips I’ve given to the class are. The sky is the limit now. |
| 4 Lately you have show enthusiasm for learning English. |
| 5 You asked me how to improve your pronunciation, I gave you some advice and gosh how beautiful you sound now. |
| 6 I’m glad you pulled up your sock when I returned your essay last month. The one this week nearly blew me away. Marvellous! |
| 7 You really seem to enjoy speaking English and you are very active in class these days. |
| 8 It’s great you like to challenge yourself in class and not do the easy assignment. |
| 9 You have the guts to keep on asking relevant questions. I’m happy to answer them and the others benefit from them too. |
| 10 You give constructive feedback to the others and me too. |
ENGLISH PROFICIENCY – feedback comments
| 1 You have shown noticeable improvement in speaking and pronunciation. |
| 2 You comprehend reading tasks quickly and can explain the content in your own words. |
| 3 You seem to make steady progress in learning active vocabulary and it is shown in both writing and speaking. |
| 4 You have learnt to use more complicated grammatical structures with few mistakes. |
| 5 Your essays have a clear logical structure and the points are soaring. |
| 6 The presentations you give in front of the class are enjoyable to listen to. |
| 7 When you have set your goals you do not give up no matter what. |
| 8 You are able to analyse the listening tasks in detail and even challenge the formulation of some questions. |
| 9 Your knowledge of the English-speaking world is amazing. |
| 10 You seem to be able to think in English without any hesitation just like native speakers. |
| 11 Thanks to reading English novels your passive vocabulary is admirable. |
| 12 Your ability to argue for your case both is speech and writing is most convincing. |
| 13 You have really made use of all the strategies we have been studying to learn English more efficiently. |
| 14 The lesson on auditive, kinesthetic and visual learners seems to have openend your eyes to what sort of learner you are. |
| 15 Your fluency in speaking leaves nothing to be desired. And your pronunciation is music to anyone’s ears. |
What we teachers say to our students, has a much more profound meaning to our students than we can ever imagine.