Importance of Monitoring and Giving Feedback in Teaching

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Monitoring and feedback are sometimes neglected by language teachers in the teaching-learning process.  That's why even the learners do not see the need to get feedback from their teachers. They think they don't need to improve, and just wait for their grades.

Part of an effective classroom management technique is monitoring and feedback.  This focuses more on the process of learning rather than the output.  In the end, the learners will be able to produce better learning outcomes.

Vietnamese teacher monitoring a group during a class activity

  • What is the  importance of monitoring for the teacher
  • What is the importance of monitoring for the learners
  • When to  monitor
  • How to monitor
  • How to give feedback
  • Some fun ways to get feedback from learners
  • Why we give feedback

What is the importance of monitoring for the teacher?

  • See how well the learners are doing the activity
  • See if the learners need more time for the activity
  • Take note of errors to use when giving feedback
  • Encourage all learners to participate in the activity
  • Offer help to struggling students
  • Check if the learners follow the instruction
  • Note errors in the target language
  • Assess the success of the activity
  • Assess learners' fluency
  • Shows the learners that you are interested in them

What is the importance of monitoring for the learners?

  • Can ask the teacher for clarifications or help
  • Interact with the teacher at an individual level
  • Feel that the activity is important

When to monitor?

Monitoring is a great way to manage activities.  However, teachers should be careful not to distract learners from doing exercise.  Sometimes, it is better to let the learners do the activity on their own.  Therefore, the teacher should know when to monitor. When you sense that the learners have some difficulties with the activity, it's better to go around and watch each group or struggling learners.  However, when you see that they are doing fine, it is better to monitor from afar.

How to monitor?

  • Write down errors and use them during the feedback time.
  • Help the weaker learners.
  • Ask the learners if they need more time to complete the task.
  • Don't always monitor the same group.  You can focus on different groups on different days.
  • Stop the activity if things are not going well and make the necessary adjustments.
  • Ask learners guiding questions.
Some teachers move around the room to monitor the activity.  Others sit down with a group and listen to any clarifications or offer guiding questions to help them accomplish the activity.  Others also stand at the back to let the students do the exercise without being conscious of the teacher's presence.  Others move the chairs to the wall to have more space to go around the room.  

There are many ways to monitor the class.  What is important is you let the students feel you are interested in what they are doing and are ready to offer help when they need it.

How to give feedback?

  • One great way to give feedback is by using sandwich feedback.  In sandwich feedback, you give first positive comments, then tell what the learners need to improve and end again with a positive note.
Sandwich feedback, giving a positive feedback followed by constructive feedback and closing with another positive feedbacksource
  • You may also write the question on the board and nominate one to answer.  Then, ask the students if they agree or not.
  • For grammar controlled practice, it is better to give feedback immediately.
  • For speaking or fluency activities, take notes of language errors and proper uses of the language during monitoring.  During the feedback stage, you may write the errors on the board and ask the class to correct them.
  • When presenting mistakes, it is not advisable to mention the name of the learner who made a mistake because it will not encourage that learner to speak in the target language.  
  • Make general comments.
The teacher can also give differentiated feedback, especially when dealing with different types of students.
  • Use different types of questions (Use more straightforward questions for weaker learners and open-ended questions for stronger learners).
  • For stronger learners, you may use self-correction, and for weaker learners, you may use peer correction.
  • Let the students compare answers in small groups. It is an excellent way for students to collaborate and help weaker learners.
  • Nominate learners, especially the stronger ones.
  • Give learners a chance to correct their mistakes.

Some fun ways to get feedback from learners

  • Use non-verbal feedback like hand signals.  For example, learners give a thumbs up if they understand the concept and thumbs down if it's not clear for them.
  • Use exit cards 
This is an exit card for learning. Learners can write down what they understood well in the lesson and what they need to improve.
  • Use traffic lights
traffic lights in learningsource

There are other ways to provide useful feedback to learners offered by teachthought.com that you may want to explore.

Why we give feedback?

Giving feedback is essential for the teacher.
  • To help learners correct their errors
  • To give praise and encouragement to the learners
  • To check answers for an activity
  • To listen to learners' ideas
  • To create a positive learning environment
  • To speed up learning
Giving feedback is vital for learners.
  • To correct their own errors
  • To know how they are doing
  • To gain confidence in learning
To sum up, monitoring and feedback is a great classroom management strategy to ensure that the students are doing the activity correctly and that they are on the right track.  It creates a connection between the teacher and the learner to achieve the learning goal.  It gives the learner the power to correct their own mistakes and learn from their peers, too.  

For the classroom management tips and ideas, please check on the A-Z Classroom Management Strategies for High School Teachers and other Classroom Ideas on this page.

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