Meaningful writing feedback that doesn't take hours to write (!)

... Does such a thing exist? I certainly hope so!

I've experimented with several different methods to correct and evaluate my students' writing over the years. And while there isn't a "one size fits all" solution to providing meaningful, actionable feedback on our students' writing that doesn't take an entire afternoon to write, I have settled on a couple of core ideas:

1. Do not include marks on writing evaluations. Most students immediately focus on the mark/percentage/smiley face/whatever-system-you're-using, are either pleased or disappointed and immediately put their writing and its evaluation sheet into their folder never to see the light of day again. Remove the grades, focus on comments.

2. Give students an opportunity to re-draft/re-write their assignment. This really is the best way for them to make memorable, transformative changes to their written expression that will stick with them over time.

3. Simply highlighting errors is not enough. Some errors students will be able to correct by themselves, especially if they are told what type of error it is (eg: this is a spelling mistake), but others need explaining and teacher guidance.

This Saturday I was able to attend in person (finally!) the 'Asociación de Centros de Enseñanza de Idiomas de Andalucía' (ACEIA) annual conference in Seville, Spain and was lucky enough to (re)connect with many other ELT professionals from across Andalusia for an intense but insightful day of learning. I immediately knew upon looking at the programme that the talk from Sally Bolton (sponsored by Trinity College London) titled 'They've finished writing, now what? Tips for providing meaningful feedback on written work', would be a must-see for me. Not least because at that point I had 3 classes of B2-level writing tasks to correct!

In this session, we discussed what effective feedback should look like:

1. Provides information rather than grades

2. Is task related not ego related (eg: avoid comments like: I think you could have spent more time on this...)

3. Provides specific not generic comments

4. Helps students move forward with actionable changes to make

5. Helps students know what they need to do next

And Sally highlighted three main styles of writing feedback:

1. Providing corrections

2. Providing comments (without corrections)

3. Using a marking code

I've been using a marking code system to correct my B1-level and higher groups for years now, and while it does allow students to make great progress, become much more aware of their typical errors and ultimately become more autonomous in error-correction in general, there are downsides. It requires a lot of time and effort on both the teacher's and student's part, and also demands a lot of class time in order to 'train' students on how to correct their mistakes effectively and to capitalise on the correction process itself.

So, I've decided it's time for a fresh approach.

This year I'm going to be focusing on providing my (B2 Cambridge First) students with comments making suggested changes to their first drafts without any corrections/underlining/ticks on the writing itself, requiring students to re-write and re-submit before they receive a 'mark' (note: I don't provide marks out of 10 or percentages on 2nd drafts despite my students' wishes to the contrary, I use a smiley-face system for all writing tasks outside of mock exams in order to limit focus on the 'mark' as much as possible).

Here's an example I've just written for a (very clear and well-written) informal email from a B2 student of mine:

What do I hope to get out of this system?

1. Well obviously I hope that this system helps my students to improve their writing and offers them clear, tangible suggestions on improvements to make.

2. By doing so, I hope that these errors and corrections will be more memorable and therefore become less-repeated as the year goes on.

3. I also hope that this will save class time, since currently I dedicate a large chunk of time in class to peer-corrections and discussions of typical errors using my marking code system after each writing assignment.

4. Finally, I hope that this method will help students to take more ownership over their writing progress, to become more accountable, autonomous learners.

5. And yes, of course, I also hope to cut down on the amount of time I spend marking their writing!

Wish me luck! 🤞🤞

Do you correct your students' writing in a different way? Do you have any prefered strategies? I'd love to hear your ideas and find out what works for you!