Feedback and digitalization : A qualitative study of the feedback methods of Swedish teachers of English at upper secondary school

Abstract: The aim of this study was to examine what methods Swedish teachers of English use to give feedback on students’ written production and what factors influence them to choose these methods. An additional aim was to find out what teachers’ experiences are of digitalization in relation to feedback on students’ written production. Five semi-structured, qualitative interviews were conducted with five certified English teachers who were currently active in upper secondary school. The results showed that the teachers used different methods when giving feedback on students’ written productions. Nonetheless, all of them mostly use formative feedback in the form of written comments. Four out of five respondents let their students submit texts through digital tools, Itslearning or DigiExam, but then printed them and handed them back with handwritten feedback of different sorts. One respondent gave all feedback electronically. When the teachers chose their methods, the most influential factors were available time, lacking student engagement and the fact that the school management team chose which digital tools that should be used. The fact that no teachers were involved in the decision about which digital tools should be used severely limits teacher autonomy and may be the reason why at least two of my respondents did not want to use these tools, which in their experience do not meet their feedback needs.