Feedback based on routine classroom assessment in elementary school: A field study

The aim of the present study was to examine and categorise teachers’ strategies for feedback in day-to-day communication in primary school. The different feedback categories constructed and grounded in data are applicable to feedback on learning and knowledge as well as on behavioural skills. Qualitative classroom observations were conducted in four primary school classrooms, including a total of four teachers and 75 students. A constructivist grounded theory approach was used throughout the analytical process. The analysis of the field data generated five main categories of feedback focuses: expecting, emotionally responding, normalising, steering, and deliberating. The categories are all broad, yet with sub-categories specific and nuanced, presenting concepts by which we can verbalize and communicate teachers’ feedback strategies. The categories place teachers’ feedback actions in a landscape, not on a linear axis. The complexity of feedback, as it is shown in the present study challenges a dichotomisation of feedback and captures more of a complexity of classroom assessment.