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- Vol 5 RE: Chapters 6, 14, App A
- Vol 5 TE: App C
formative assessmentself-regulated learningself-assessmentinternal feedbackfeedback dialogueassessment criteriafeedback literacyresubmissionJournal article Evidence summaryAt a glance
Nicol and Macfarlane-Dick reinterpret formative assessment through a model of self-regulated learning. Students compare current performance with goals and generate internal feedback, even when teachers provide no comments.
Key ideas
Good external feedback should therefore strengthen learners’ capacity to judge and regulate their own work. The authors derive seven principles: clarify good performance; support self-assessment and reflection; provide high-quality information about learning; encourage dialogue; promote motivation and self-esteem; create opportunities to close the gap; and supply teachers with information for shaping instruction. Practical examples include exemplars, peer discussion, staged assignments, feedback requests, and resubmission. The model shifts feedback from one-way transmission after a task toward an interactive process embedded in learning.
Why it matters
It also warns that marks, praise, or extensive comments may not improve performance if learners cannot interpret or act on them. For educators, feedback design must connect criteria, learner judgement, dialogue, action, and subsequent opportunities to demonstrate improvement.
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Edition abbreviations
- TE
- Teacher Edition
- PE
- Practice Edition
- RE
- Research Edition
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