Responding to Student Writing
Research in writing studies suggests that feedback is most effective when it supports learning, revision, and writer development rather than simply evaluating finished products. Across decades of scholarship, researchers have found that students often struggle to interpret, prioritize, and apply feedback. Here are three important things instructors should know.
Feedback should support revision, not simply justify a grade.
Feedback has the greatest impact when students have opportunities to use it. In her landmark article, Sommers (1982) argues that comments are most effective when they help students reconsider their ideas, organization, evidence, and rhetorical choices during the writing process. Comments provided after a final submission often function primarily as explanations for a grade rather than as opportunities for learning.
Writing studies distinguishes between feedback that evaluates (summative) and feedback that facilitates revision (formative). When students receive feedback while writing is still in progress, they can test suggestions, revise their drafts, and strengthen their understanding of effective writing practices.
Implication for instructors: Feedback is most valuable when students can act on it. Build opportunities for feedback into the writing process through proposals, drafts, conferences, peer review, or low-stakes checkpoints.
Prioritize higher-order concerns before lower-order concerns.
Research consistently shows that students can become overwhelmed when feedback addresses too many issues at once. Sommers (1982) found that extensive comments on sentence-level issues often distract students from larger questions of purpose, argument, organization, and evidence. Similarly, Straub (1997) found that students respond more positively to focused feedback that identifies meaningful revision priorities.
It can help to distinguish between:
- Higher-order concerns: purpose, audience, thesis, argument, evidence, organization, and development.
- Lower-order concerns: grammar, punctuation, formatting, citation style, and sentence-level correctness.
While both are important, higher-order concerns typically have a greater impact on the effectiveness of a piece of writing.
Implication for instructors: Resist the urge to mark every error. Focus feedback on the few issues that will most improve the student’s thinking and communication. Once ideas and organization are stronger, sentence-level concerns become easier to address.
Respond to the writer, not just the text.
Writing studies research emphasizes that feedback influences not only a particular piece of writing but also students’ beliefs about themselves as writers. Straub (1997) found that students are more likely to engage with feedback when it is specific, respectful, and framed as guidance rather than correction. Similarly, Haswell (2006) argues that productive feedback creates a dialogue that invites students into revision rather than positioning instructors solely as evaluators. Rather than simply identifying weaknesses, feedback can help students develop transferable writing knowledge and greater confidence as writers.
Effective feedback helps students understand:
- what is working
- where they might improve
- how they might revise
- what strategies they can carry into future writing situations
Implication for instructors: Frame comments as conversations about choices and possibilities. Ask questions, identify strengths, and provide actionable suggestions that help students make decisions as writers.
Implications for Teaching
Writing studies research suggests that instructors can improve the effectiveness of feedback by:
- providing feedback before final submission
- prioritizing a few meaningful revision goals
- focusing first on higher-order concerns
- explaining why revisions matter
- balancing critique with recognition of strengths
- asking questions that promote reflection and decision-making
- creating opportunities for students to respond to or use feedback
Common Characteristics of Effective Feedback
Effective feedback often:
- occurs during the writing process
- supports revision and learning
- prioritizes higher-order concerns
- provides specific and actionable guidance
- explains the reasoning behind suggestions
- acknowledges strengths as well as areas for improvement
- encourages reflection and metacognition
- helps students transfer writing strategies to future situations
Works Cited
Anson, C. M. (1989). Writing and response: Theory, practice, and research. National Council of Teachers of English.
Bean, J. C. (2011). Engaging ideas: The professor’s guide to integrating writing, critical thinking, and active learning in the classroom (2nd ed.). Jossey-Bass.
Haswell, R. H. (2006). The complexities of responding to student writing; or, looking for shortcuts via the road of excess. Across the Disciplines, 3.
Sommers, N. (1982). Responding to student writing. College Composition and Communication, 33(2), 148–156.
Straub, R. (1997). Students’ reactions to teacher comments: An exploratory study. Research in the Teaching of English, 31(1), 91–119.