ABSTRACT
Feedback is contingent on performance, and is a consequence of performance. It happens after a student has done something, such as answered a question, written an essay, or commented on a peer’s proposition. In other words, feedback is effective when it enables a learner to figure out how to be more accurate, or become qualitatively better, or more efficient, or better able to apply their learning to a new opportunity. Feedback for the students tends to have limited effects, compared with similar feedback to those students orientated more towards increasing their learning. The point is that under some circumstances feedback negatively impacts on the development or exercise of self-control. And under some circumstances feedback limits or undermines a sense of being in control. The issue is not avoiding providing feedback, but using it in ways that maximise the learner’s self-control and efficacy, and the teacher’s agency, without taking time away from more effective forms of instruction.
