Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Feelings About Feedback: The Role of Emotions in Assessment for Learning

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Scaling up Assessment for Learning in Higher Education

Part of the book series: The Enabling Power of Assessment ((EPAS,volume 5))

Abstract

Feedback is a key element of quality teaching, which both evaluates and supports student learning. The role of emotions in assessment and feedback is less well understood than cognitive and motivational components. However, emotion is just as important – a student’s willingness to engage with feedback is determined in part by its’ emotional impact. This chapter provides an overview of key developments in the area of university students’ emotions pertaining to feedback drawing on recent research from social psychology and education. Given that emotions and feedback are an under-explored area of research, the question of how understanding emotions can contribute to the scaling up of assessment for learning is problematised. Potential strategies for learners, teachers and faculty-student partnerships are discussed. Depth and sustainability are presently the most relevant dimensions of scaling up for emotions, assessment and feedback due in part to the psychological processes underpinning the self-management skills needed to regulate emotions.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 129.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER). (2009). Engaging students for success: Australasian student engagement report/Australasian survey of student engagement. Retrieved from www.acer.edu.au/documents/AUSSE_2008-StudentEngagementReport.pdf

    Google Scholar 

  • Beard, C., Humberstone, B., & Clayton, B. (2014). Positive emotions: Passionate scholarship and student transformation. Teaching in Higher Education, 19(6), 630–643.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Black, P., & Wiliam, D. (1998). Assessment and classroom learning. Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy & Practice, 5(1), 7–74.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boud, D., & Molloy, E. (2013a). What is the problem with feedback? In D. Boud & E. Molloy (Eds.), Feedback in higher and professional education (pp. 1–10). London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boud, D., & Molloy, E. (2013b). Rethinking models of feedback for learning: The challenge of design. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 38(6), 698–712.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brinkworth, R., McCann, B., Mathews, C., & Nordström, K. (2009). First year expectations and experiences: Student and teacher perspectives. Higher Education, 58, 157–173.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carey, P. (2013). Student as co-producer in a marketised higher education system: A case study of students’ experience of participation in curriculum design. Innovations in Education & Teaching International, 50(3), 250–260.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carless, D. (2009). Trust, distrust and their impact on assessment reform. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 34(1), 79–89.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carless, D., Salter, D., Yang, M., & Lam, J. (2011). Developing sustainable feedback practices. Studies in Higher Education, 36(4), 395–407.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cook-Sather, A., Bovill, C., & Felten, P. (2014). Engaging students as partners in learning and teaching: A guide for faculty. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cornelius-White, J. (2007). Learner-centered teacher-student relationships are effective: A meta-analysis. Review of Educational Research, 77(1), 113–143.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cramp, A., Lamonda, C., Coleyshawa, L., & Beck, S. (2012). Empowering or disabling? Emotional reactions to assessment amongst part-time adult students. Teaching in Higher Education, 17(5), 509–521.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Crossman, J. (2007). The role of relationships and emotions in student perceptions of learning and assessment. Higher Education Research & Development, 26(3), 313–327.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dowden, T., Pittaway, S., Yost, H., & McCarthy, R. (2013). Students’ perceptions of written feedback in teacher education: Ideally feedback is a continuing two-way communication that encourages progress. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 38(3), 349–362.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Falchikov, N., & Boud, D. (2007). Assessment and emotion: The impact of being assessed. In D. Boud & N. Falchikov (Eds.), Rethinking assessment in higher education: Learning for the longer term (pp. 144–156). London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gibbons, S. B. (2011). Understanding empathy as a complex construct: A review of the literature. Clinical Social Work Journal, 39, 243–252.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gibbs, G. (2010). Dimensions of quality. York: The Higher Education Academy Retrieved from https://www.heacademy.ac.uk/resource/dimensions-quality.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gilbert, P. (2009). Introducing compassion-focused therapy. Advances in Psychiatric Treatment, 15, 199–208.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goetz, J. L., Keltner, D., & Simon-Thomas, E. (2010). Compassion: An evolutionary analysis and empirical review. Psychological Bulletin, 136(3), 351–374.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goldman, Z. W., & Goodboy, A. K. (2014). Making students feel better: Examining the relationships between teacher confirmation and college students’ emotional outcomes. Communication Education, 63(3), 259–277.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gooty, J., Gavin, M., & Ashkanasy, N. M. (2009). Emotions research in OB: The challenges that lie ahead. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 30, 833–838.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gross, J. J., & John, O. P. (2003). Individual differences in two emotion regulation processes: Implications for affect, relationships, and well-being. Journal of Personality & Social Psychology, 85(2), 348–362.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hareli, S., & Parkinson, B. (2008). What’s social about social emotions? Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour, 38(2), 131–156.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Huntsinger, J. R. (2013). Does emotion directly tune the scope of attention? Current Directions in Psychological Science, 22, 265–270.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • James, N., & Field, R. (2013). The new lawyer. Milton, Australia: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kift, S., Nelson, K., & Clarke, J. (2010). Transition pedagogy: A third generation approach to FYE – A case study of policy and practice for the higher education sector. The International Journal of the First Year in Higher Education, 1(1), 1–20.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lazarus, R. S. (1991). Emotion and adaptation. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moore, S., & Kuol, K. (2007). Matters of the heart: Exploring the emotional dimensions of educational experience in recollected accounts of excellent teaching. International Journal for Academic Development, 12(2), 87–98.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moors, A. (2014). Flavors of appraisal theories of emotion. Emotion Review, 6(4), 303–307.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nicol, D. (2010). From monologue to dialogue: Improving written feedback processes in mass higher education. Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, 35(5), 501–517.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nicol, D., Thomson, A., & Breslin, C. (2014). Rethinking feedback practices in higher education: A peer review perspective. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 39(1), 102–122.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oatley, K., & Johnson-Laird, P. N. (2014). Cognitive approaches to emotions. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 18(3), 134–140.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). (2015). Skills for social progress: The power of social and emotional skills. Paris: OECD Skills Studies, OECD Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Parkinson, B., & Manstead, A. S. R. (2015). Current emotion research in social psychology: Thinking about emotions and other people. Emotion Review, 7(4), 371–380.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pekrun, R., & Stephens, S. J. (2010). Achievement emotions in higher education. In J. C. Smart (Ed.), Higher education: Handbook of theory and research (Vol. 25, pp. 257–306). New York: Springer.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Pekrun, R., Frenzel, A. C., Goetz, T., & Perry, R. P. (2007). The control-value theory of achievement emotions: An integrative approach to emotions in education. In P. A. Schutz & R. Pekrun (Eds.), Emotion in education (pp. 13–36). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Pekrun, R., Goetz, T., Titz, W., & Perry, R. P. (2002). Academic emotions in students’ self-regulated learning and achievement: A program of qualitative and quantitative research. Educational Psychologist, 37(2), 91–105.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peterson, E. R., Brown, G. T. L., & Jun, M. C. (2015). Achievement emotions in higher education: A diary study exploring emotions across an assessment event. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 42, 82–96.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pitt, E., & Norton, L. (2016). ‘Now that’s the feedback I want!’ Students’ reactions to feedback on graded work and what they do with it. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education. doi:10.1080/02602938.2016.1142500.

    Google Scholar 

  • Poulos, A., & Mahony, M. J. (2008). Effectiveness of feedback: The students’ perspective. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 33(2), 143–154.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Price, M., Handley, K., Millar, J., & O’Donovan, B. (2010). Feedback: All that effort, but what is the effect? Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 35(3), 277–289.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Raferty, J. N., & Bizer, G. Y. (2009). Negative feedback and performance: The moderating effect of emotion regulation. Personality & Individual Differences, 47, 481–486.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rowe, A. (2011). The personal dimension in teaching: Why students value feedback. International Journal of Educational Management, 25(4), 343–360.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rowe, A., Fitness, J., & Wood, L. (2014). The role and functionality of emotions in feedback at university: A qualitative study. The Australian Educational Researcher, 41(3), 283–309.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rowe, A., Fitness, J., & Wood, L. (2015). University student and lecturer perceptions of positive emotions in learning. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 28(1), 1–20.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rowe, A. D. (2013). Feedback in higher education: Personal, relational and emotional dimensions. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Macquarie University, Australia.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sadler, D. R. (2010). Beyond feedback: Developing student capability in complex appraisal. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 35(5), 535–550.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Scherer, K. R. (2001). Appraisal considered as a process of multilevel sequential checking. In K. R. Scherer, A. Schorr, & T. Johnstone (Eds.), Appraisal processes in emotion: Theory, methods, research (pp. 92–120). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shields, S. (2015). ‘My work is bleeding’: Exploring students’ emotional responses to first-year assignment feedback. Teaching in Higher Education. doi:10.1080/13562517.2015.1052786.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shute, V. (2008). Focus on formative feedback. Review of Educational Research, 78(1), 153–189.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Storrs, D. (2012). ‘Keeping it real’ with an emotional curriculum. Teaching in Higher Education, 17(1), 1–12.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Talmi, D. (2013). Enhanced emotional memory: Cognitive and neural mechanisms. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 22(6), 430–436.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Theising, K., Wu, K., & Sheehan, A. H. (2014). Impact of peer assessment on student pharmacists’ behaviors and self-confidence. Currents in Pharmacy Teaching & Learning, 6, 10–14.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • White, C. J. (2013). Higher education emotions: A scale development exercise. Higher Education Research and Development, 32(2), 287–299.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wood, A. M., Froh, J. J., & Geraghty, A. W. A. (2010). Gratitude and well-being: A review and theoretical integration. Clinical Psychology Review, 30(7), 890–905.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yang, M., & Carless, D. (2013). The feedback triangle and the enhancement of dialogic feedback process. Teaching in Higher Education, 18(3), 285–297.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The author wishes to express gratitude to Felicity Martin for assisting with the literature review and Teresa Dluzewska for providing valuable feedback on drafts.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, Australia

    Anna D. Rowe

Authors
  1. Anna D. Rowe
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Anna D. Rowe .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Education, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong

    David Carless

  2. Faculty of Education, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong

    Susan M. Bridges

  3. Ctr. Enhancement of Teaching & Learning, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong

    Cecilia Ka Yuk Chan

  4. Faculty of Law, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong

    Rick Glofcheski

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2017 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Rowe, A.D. (2017). Feelings About Feedback: The Role of Emotions in Assessment for Learning. In: Carless, D., Bridges, S., Chan, C., Glofcheski, R. (eds) Scaling up Assessment for Learning in Higher Education. The Enabling Power of Assessment, vol 5. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-3045-1_11

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-3045-1_11

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore

  • Print ISBN: 978-981-10-3043-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-981-10-3045-1

  • eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation