Feedback to writing, assessment for teaching and learning and student progress

Traditionally, feedback to writing is written on drafts or given orally in roving or more formal conferences and is considered a significant part of instruction. This paper locates written response within an assessment for learning framework in the writing classroom. Within this framework, quality of response was defined in terms of providing information about: (i) where students were positioned relative to the performance desired; (ii) about key features of the desired performance, and (iii) what was needed to achieve the desired performance. A study of teachers (maximum n = 59) in six schools provided data regarding their ability to give quality formative written feedback to a piece of writing. This quality score related significantly to gains in their students’ achievement on a nationally standardised measure of writing (r = .685, p < .01). The ability to provide written response that serves assessment for learning functions appears to be a powerful component of teacher practice that develops student writing. The paper suggests that considerable teacher pedagogical content knowledge is required to provide such feedback.