Feedback practices in foreign language emergency remote teaching in Finland

Abstract

This case study investigated students’ perceptions of teacher feedback in foreign language emergency remote teaching in Finnish general upper secondary education. A total of 251 students from seven schools answered an online questionnaire. The results showed that students found teacher feedback to be encouraging, clear, instructive and general. Compared to students with higher course grades, students with lower course grades found teacher feedback to be discouraging, vague, unclear, and demotivating. Students perceived the quantity of oral feedback to be scarce. The results imply that feedback was not personalised to match students’ individual needs, and that teachers mostly relied on written feedback. Teachers can use these findings to reflect on their approach to feedback in emergency remote teaching and redesign strategies to diversify their feedback practices.