Loading...
When is a word not just a word? An investigation into the dissonance and synergy between intention and understanding of the language of feedback in legal education
Ellison, Lynn Jones, Dawn
Ellison, Lynn
Jones, Dawn
Authors
Editors
Other contributors
Affiliation
Epub Date
Issue Date
2020-03-12
Submitted date
Subjects
Alternative
Abstract
When is a word not just a word? Can it be expected that using an everyday word or phrase when providing feedback means that it will be understood in the same way by different students at various stages of their academic journey? No matter how well intended feedback is, if a student is unable to correctly interpret the language used, it will prove to be of little use. This research considers the dissonance between the intended message of written feedback on written assessments provided by law academics and the understanding of the recipient. The authors used survey method to obtain free text comments which identified common words and phrases used in legal academic feedback, along with academics’ experiences and opinions of the effectiveness and purpose of feedback. The common words and phrases identified through this process were then incorporated into surveys undertaken by students at three of four levels of study. This stage of the research was completed by examining the qualitative data gathered, paying particular attention to the language of feedback itself. This was completed in the context of examining existing literature surrounding the general language of feedback, but focusing on specific legal language. The authors encountered some unexpected misinterpretations and some surprising synergy.
Citation
Ellison, L. and Jones, D. (2020) When is a word not just a word? An investigation into the dissonance and synergy between intention and understanding of the language of feedback in legal education, The Law Teacher, 55 (2), pp. 155-168 DOI: 10.1080/03069400.2020.1729012
Publisher
Journal
Research Unit
PubMed ID
PubMed Central ID
Embedded videos
Additional Links
Type
Journal article
Language
en
Description
This is an accepted manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in The Law Teacher on 12/03/2020, available online: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03069400.2020.1729012
The accepted version of the publication may differ from the final published version.
Series/Report no.
ISSN
0306-9400
EISSN
ISBN
ISMN
Gov't Doc #
Sponsors
Rights
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International