Promoting social acceptance through teacher feedback
Students receive feedback from their teachers all the time in the classroom. Whether it is because a child is not following the class rules or has achieved a good grade in a test - the reasons for individual feedback vary greatly.
We know from international and our own research findings that the feedback behaviour of teachers can also have an influence on social acceptance. For example, the likelihood of social rejection by classmates increases if a child frequently receives negative feedback in class. For this reason, we are currently developing a measure that focuses specifically on teacher feedback and the pupils' perception of teacher feedback (feedback memory). We would like to answer three questions in an initial pilot study in spring/summer 2022:
- Can the perception of positive teacher feedback by students be increased by implementing our feedback memory concept?
- Can this approach also improve the social acceptance of students who rarely receive positive feedback in class?
- How do teachers rate the feedback memory concept?
Background to the study
The theoretical background of the study is the so-called social-referencing theory. Teachers are the most important social reference in the classroom for primary school children. With regard to social acceptance, it can be assumed that publicly expressed teacher feedback influences the attitude of classmates towards the target child. In the last 20 years, several experimental studies and a few field studies have indeed shown that both positive and negative teacher feedback can influence acceptance by classmates. However, to our knowledge, intervention studies that utilise this knowledge to improve the social acceptance of pupils are not yet available.
Research design
To answer the above questions, we would like to conduct an initial pilot study on our feedback memory concept after the Easter holidays and before the summer holidays in 2022. All classes participating in our study will receive funding during this period.
Your cooperation
Students taking part in our project will carry out surveys at three measurement points over a period of approx. 8 weeks. They also support the teachers in implementing the programme. You will supervise one class for Bachelor's theses, two classes for Master's theses and, in the case of a research project, one class (year 4). It is advantageous if you already have contact with primary schools where the project could be implemented.
Current status of the project (as of 25.01.22)
No more students are being sought.
If you have any questions
Email: spilles[at]uni-wuppertal.de.
