Comments on: Why good feedback matters and how to get it

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Training your Chinese teacher, part 1: Introduction - Hacking Chinese — Sun, 02 Oct 2022 08:00:30 +0000

[…] teacher can provide invaluable guidance and feedback, as well as scaffolding and tailoring your learning experience in a way that is impossible without […]

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Unmissable Language Links - April 2014 - More Vietnamese — Thu, 02 Feb 2017 16:53:49 +0000

[…] Why good feedback matters and how to get it […]

By: Olle Linge

Olle Linge — Sat, 08 Oct 2016 03:28:35 +0000

In reply to Fearchar. Well, yes, training is only good if the training is good. :)

By: Fearchar

Fearchar — Fri, 07 Oct 2016 15:32:42 +0000

If you won’t do it, Olle, I will! My experiences suggest to me that the very worst person to go to for feedback is someone trained to teach Mandarin to non-speakers: his or her head has been stuffed full of nonsense about the “proper” way to do things that contradicts all the tenets of foreign-language pedagogics.

Even the most basic advice given to trainee teachers (not just of languages) early on in their training, such as “Never teach to unteach” is habitually broken by trained teachers of Mandarin. Remember when you were told 了 could only ever occur once in a sentence – and the next lesson was how and where to use it twice!

So follow what people actually say, and go out of your way to avoid Mandarin teachers unless they have been trained in Europe or North America.

By: Ruth Elisabeth

Ruth Elisabeth — Fri, 04 Apr 2014 14:30:40 +0000

A really thought-provoking article, Olle!

As I read I realised that I’ve improved my feedback organically simply from using lang-8 more and more (duly noted there’s still scope to refine it a bit more). As a teacher I follow the ‘let students self-correct’ school of thought. Though I seldom set longer pieces of writing, I’m going to reflect on whether I need to give more guidance in controlled practice. Thanks!