Sugaring the pill Praise and criticism in written feedback

Abstract

This paper offers a detailed text analysis of the written feedback given by two teachers to ESL students over a complete proficiency course. We consider this feedback in terms of its functions as praise, criticism, and suggestions. Praise was the most frequently employed function in the feedback of these two teachers, but this was often used to soften criticisms and suggestions rather than simply responding to good work. Many of the criticisms and suggestions were also mitigated by the use of hedging devices, question forms, and personal attribution. We explore the motivations for these mitigations through teacher interviews and think-aloud protocols and examine cases where students failed to understand their teachers' comments due to their indirectness. While recognising the importance of mitigation strategies as a means of minimising the force of criticisms and enhancing effective teacher-student relationships, we also point out that such indirectness carries the very real potential for incomprehension and miscommunication. © 2001 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.