Browsing by Subject "pupil"

Writing is one of the most important skills learned in school. Studies have indicated that pupils' writing skills need improvement which evokes to observe the practices of teaching writing. This thesis contemplates the teaching of writing from the feedback's point of view. The goal of my thesis is to find out what kind of conceptions the sixth-graders have about the feedback they receive from writing and how pupils describe the meaning and effectiveness of feedback. Research type was qualitative study. Data was gathered from three different classes by using method of empathy-based stories. Data consists of 69 pupils empathy-based stories that deals with response given from the opinion essays. Material was analysed by using qualitative theory-guided content analysis. Study indicated that according to pupils' stories feedback wasn't given until the text was finished. Response consisted mainly of text evaluation. In the pupils' stories the response was given verbally and in writing generally by classmates and the teacher. Besides the content of the text and pupils working effort, the feedback was often focused on opinions in the text. When feedback was given by the classmates it was sometimes targeted at the pupil receiving the response and contained inappropriate features such as mocking. Empathy-based stories showed that feedback clearly had a meaning but experience of the feedback may consist of many different factors. In the story conceptions and expectations considering the feedback had the most influence on pupil's experience. In most cases feedback had an effect on pupil's experience at emotional level. In the stories feedback was also seen to have an influence on future writing, pupil's self-esteem, conception of feedback and person giving it. The results showed that the pupils have lots of resources to reflect the quality of the feedback and its meaning for the writer. According to the stories the benefit of feedback was tangential from the writings point of view and the idea of giving feedback was in accordance with conventional evaluative feedback. I think the results support the idea that feedback should be more firm part of the actual writing process. The person receiving the feedback should be more active and the pupils' aptitudes to utilize the feedback should be supported more.