Middle School Mathematics Teachers' Opinions on Feedback

Abstract

During instruction, providing feedbacks improves students' academic achievements as well as motivates them to actively engage in lesson activities. Feedback is very important for teaching. Feedback is not only a functional tool to provide active involvement of the students to the learning process but also affects the academic success of the student. In this study, it is important to analyze in-service mathematics teachers' opinions on feedback. This study is conceptualized as a qualitative study. The data of this study included in-service teachers' responses to a semi-structured questionnaire, which created by the researchers. In-service teachers' responses to the interview questions were audio taped and later transcribed verbatim to conduct a content analysis. Twelve mathematics teachers working in 12 different schools in a central district of Kirsehir voluntarily participated in the study during the 2015-2016 academic year. The data of the study were obtained conducting face-to-face interviews with the mathematics teachers. Teachers' responses to the questionnaire items were analyzed thematically and classified under the following seven headings: style of the feedback, scope of the feedback, principles of providing the feedback, difficulties experienced when providing the feedback, reasons for providing insufficient feedback, the benefits of the feedback, and the significance of the feedback in learning. The results are presented in relation to the literature in the area. Teachers agree that it is not possible to complete students' gaps in Mathematics with the courses offered in the collective education system. Based on the findings some suggestions about the usage of feedback were provided.