Currently reading García et al. (2026): “Mapping the associations between feedback practices and feedback literacy in Catalan universities”

One might assume that if students aren’t offered enough feedback from the teacher, they will ask for it, but then one would be wrong…

Based on an online survey with 2600+ students, García et al. (2026) investigate student feedback literacy (i.e. whether they seek feedback, how they make sense of feedback, how they use the feedback, whether they provide feedback themselves, and how they manage the emotions that come with all of this), and what factors influence it (what content is contained in the feedback messages they typically receive, how students work with the information in the message, student characteristics such as prior knowledge and motivation or even gender, context like disciplinary norms, and who the feedback is provided by, e.g. the teacher, the student themselves, a peer, a digital platform).

They find that it matters what kind of messages students receive: corrective negative feedback correlated with seeking, using and providing feedback; corrective positive with seek and use feedback (so always better to give concrete feedback than just praise). It also matters a lot what students do when they receive feedback, especially that they analyse their own work, e.g. by comparing it with others’ or with a rubric. When it comes to student characteristics, “women seem to use feedback more effectively when problem-solving and show greater commitment and openness to the feedback they receive“.

Also interesting: “peer feedback frequency was a significant predictor of feedback literacy, whereas professor feedback was not“: working with peers helps students to get more confident in their own judgement of their own and others’ work. But the more feedback students get from teachers, the more they seek out (possibly because the teacher has already shown willingness to provide feedback? Is there a trust component in this, too?). Overall, the more students are used to receiving and working with feedback, the better they become at it, including asking for it.

The interesting conclusion from this study is that practising feedback literacy requires different types of opportunities for the different dimensions rather than a one-size-fits-all approach. And it should be done early in a study programme when it is still the most difficult for students to work with feedback.

García, E. C., Ianos, M. A., Petreñas, C., & Davids, A. I. R. (2026). Mapping the associations between feedback practices and feedback literacy in Catalan universities. Studies in Educational Evaluation, 91, 101700.

When the sun is out…

The beach definitely does not look like summer any more…

But so pretty!