The significance of assignment feedback: from consumption to construction

Research undertaken on student feedback has pointed to the difficulties that students have in understanding written feedback. However, little attention has been given to understanding student views on verbal feedback. This article aims to fill this gap by reporting on the findings of verbal feedback practices among 114 History, Politics and International Relations students obtained from a questionnaire survey. These findings were supported by five in-depth semi-structured interviews. The findings show variance in student views with regard to different aspects of verbal feedback. The research outlines a number of suggestions that assist in developing verbal feedback opportunities further. It is argued that ‘feedback- dialogues’ provide a mechanism for improving student understanding of feedback.