Feedback literacy, feedback seeking and lifelong learning: Implications for doctoral education

1. Feedback literacy, feedback seeking
and lifelong learning: Implications for
doctoral education
David Carless,
University of Hong Kong,
@CarlessDavid
HKPolyU, 24 Jan, 2024
The University of Hong Kong

2. Overview
• Feedback literacy concepts
• Linkages to feedback seeking
• Doctoral education & feedback
• Implications & future directions
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3. LEARNER FEEDBACK LITERACY
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4. Defining student feedback literacy
Understandings, capacities & dispositions
needed to use feedback for improvement
(Carless & Boud, 2018)
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5. Student feedback literacy
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Making
Judgments
Appreciating
Feedback
Managing
Affect
Taking Action
(Carless & Boud, 2018)

6. Defining feedback seeking
Purposely seeking information about one’s
own level of performance, interpreting it and
applying it (Anseel et al. 2015)
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7. Feedback seeking strategies
Direct inquiry: requesting advice
Indirect inquiry e.g. self-critical comments;
starting a conversation
Monitoring: observing cues e.g. rubrics,
exemplars, previous feedback
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8. Cost-value trade-off
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Cost Value
Exposing uncertainty Improve performance
Ego threats Positive impression
Effort Higher grades

9. Research 1
Review of empirical research on feedback
seeking in undergraduate education
- Scoping review (42 articles)
- Expert group
(Leenknecht & Carless, 2023)
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10. The University of Hong Kong

11. Feedback seeking & feedback literacy
Interdependent & mutually reinforcing
(Leenknecht & Carless, 2023)
Feedback seeking develops feedback
literacy & Feedback literate individuals seek
feedback
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Feedback
Literacy
Feedback
Seeking

12. Research 2
Longitudinal collaboration with ONE feedback
seeking undergraduate
- Transcripts of feedback seeking interactions
- Stephanie’s reflective journal
(Carless & Young, 2023)
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13. The University of Hong Kong

14. Reflective feedback literacy
Considered analysis of feedback evidence,
informing ongoing efforts to seek, make
sense of, and use feedback.
(Carless & Young, 2023)
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15. Academic feedback seeking
Creating & taking advantage of opportunities
Overcoming ego/image-based concerns
Inviting alternative critical perspectives
Feedback literacy for academics (Gravett et
al. 2022)
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16. DOCTORAL EDUCATION &
FEEDBACK
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17. The University of Hong Kong

18. Interviews with supervisors
Interview-based study of 20 supervisors
about their supervision practices, with
specific focus on feedback
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19. Sociocultural theory
Theorising the doctorate accounts for wider
sociocultural relationships beyond supervisors
(Hopwood 2010)
Learning as social and cultural process mediated
through tools (Esterhazy & Damsa, 2019)
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20. RQs
RQ1: What are doctoral supervisors’
understandings of feedback and its
enactment within the doctoral process?
RQ2: What kinds of broader feedback inputs
arise beyond the immediate supervision
process?
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21. Supervisors’ emphases in feedback
Feedback as comments
Feedback as dialogue
Feedback for enactment
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22. Students asking insightful questions
An aspect of feedback is doctoral students’
ability to ask good questions. The more they
understand about research, the better their
questions become. I believe in sociocultural
theory; doing a doctorate is a collaborative
enterprise and co-construction, dialogue are
key elements. (Professor)
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23. Missed feedback seeking opportunities
Doctoral students often unwilling to submit
drafts, they see writing as like a final version,
good work as being ‘correct’; don't have the
iterative, refinement concept through peer
review. When I give critical feedback, they
become unhappy. (Professor)
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24. Broader feedback inputs
1. Journal peer review
2. Conference presentations
Peers
Teachers and other staff
Visiting scholars
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25. Feedback from peer review
Co-authoring and submitting to good journals
are the best ways to gain feedback because
you obtain experts' opinions. This is
generating authentic feedback because your
examiners will ask similar kinds of questions.
(Associate Professor)
The University of Hong Kong

26. Handling peer review feedback
Peer review feedback is authentic, genuine,
part of the real world. When they find a job
as an assistant professor, they will be doing
this for the rest of their career, so handling
peer review feedback is a critical skill.
(Professor)
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27. Authentic feedback
Feedback processes resembling feedback
practices of the discipline, profession or
workplace (Dawson, Carless & Lee, 2021)
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28. The University of Hong Kong

29. Conference preparation
The processes of drafting the abstract,
preparing the presentation and making their
ideas clear are useful… It's not just me
giving feedback, it is others who may be
even more critical. (Associate Professor)
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30. Conferences and feedback
Conferences can be a source of feedback.
Talk to people, my opinion is just one among
many, and the best way for doctoral students
to decide what makes sense is to hear from
different people. (Associate Professor)
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31. Feedback enactment
(Doctoral) learners making use of diverse
feedback inputs to enhance their knowledge
and skills (Carless, Jung and Li, 2023, p.3).
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32. Implications & future
directions
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33. Key messages for doctoral education
Feedback as socialization into academic
ways of working
Mediated by supervisors and others
Authentic feedback mirroring research work
(cf. doctoral students writing for publication, Bao & Feng,
2023)
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34. Supervisor feedback literacy
- extended conceptualizations of feedback;
- sociocultural co-construction;
- enactment of feedback;
- enabling authentic feedback.
… Doctoral students’ feedback literacy …
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35. Feedback seeking & generative AI
What are the capacities for lifelong learners
to make effective use of generative AI as a
feedback source?
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36. References
Anseel, F., Beatty, A. S., Shen, W., Lievens, F., & Sackett, P. R. (2015). How are we doing after 30
years? A meta-analytic review of the antecedents and outcomes of feedback-seeking behavior.
Journal of Management, 41(1), 318-348.
Bao, J. & Feng, D. W. (2023) Supervisory feedback and doctoral students’ academic literacy
development: the case of writing for publication, Teaching in Higher
Education, DOI: 10.1080/13562517.2023.2283727
Carless, D. & Boud, D. (2018). The development of student feedback literacy: Enabling uptake of
feedback. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education doi:10.1080/02602938.2018.1463354
Carless, D., J. Jung & Y. Li (2023). Feedback as socialization in doctoral education: Towards the
enactment of authentic feedback. Studies in Higher Education.
https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2023.2242888
Carless, D., & Winstone, N. (2023). Teacher feedback literacy and its interplay with student feedback
literacy. Teaching in Higher Education, 28(1), 150-163.
https://doi.org/10.1080/13562517.2020.1782372
Carless, D., & Young, S. (2023). Feedback seeking and student reflective feedback literacy: A
sociocultural discourse analysis, Higher Education https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-023-01146-1
Dawson, P. Carless, D. & Lee, P.P.W (2021). Authentic feedback: Supporting learners to engage in
disciplinary feedback practices. Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, 46(2), 286-296.
https://doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2020.1769022
Esterhazy, R., and C. Damşa. 2019. “Unpacking the Feedback Process: An Analysis of Undergraduate
Students’ Interactional Meaning-making of Feedback Comments.” Studies in Higher Education
44(2): 260-274.
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37. References (continued)
Gravett, K., Kinchin, I., Winstone, N., Balloo, K., Heron, M., Hosein, A., Lygo-Baker, S. and Medland,
E. (2020). The development of academics’ feedback literacy: Experiences of learning from critical
feedback via scholarly peer review, Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, 45:5, 651-665.
Hopwood, N. 2010. “A Sociocultural View of Doctoral Students’ Relationships and Agency.” Studies in
Continuing Education 32(2): 103-117.
Leenknecht, M. & Carless, D. (2023). Students’ feedback seeking behaviour in undergraduate
education: A scoping review, Educational Research Review,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.edurev.2023.100549
Tacoma, S., Geurts, C., Slof, B., Jeuring, J., & Drijvers, P. (2020) Enhancing learning with inspectable
student models: Worth the effort? Computers in Human Behavior, 107, 106276.
doi:10.1016/j.chb.2020.106276
Wanberg, C. R., & Kammeyer-Mueller, J. D. (2000). Predictors and outcomes of proactivity in the
socialization process. Journal of Applied Psychology, 85(3), 373–385.
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38. THANK YOU
QUESTIONS
COMMENTS
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39. SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL
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40. Independence
“It's important for doctoral students to know
that they need to be fairly independent. We
cannot hold their hands too much, they
cannot be too dependent on us”. (HKU
Professor)
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41. (Carless & Winstone, 2023)

42. Recommendations
Embed feedback seeking (early) within the
curriculum (program-wide feedback)
Develop relational climates for feedback
seeking eg psychological safety
Encourage reflection & share own feedback
(seeking) experiences
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43. Feedback seeking & achievement
Feedback seekers generally outperformed
non-feedback seekers (Tacoma et al. 2020)
High performers seek more feedback
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44. 3 sets of motives
Learning (uncertainty reduction)
Impression management (external)
Ego-building (introspective) – self-image
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45. Achievement goal theory
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Learning goals Performance goals
Develop competence Demonstrate competence
Feedback as diagnosis Feedback as judgment

46. Characteristics of feedback seekers
High expectations (Wanberg & Kammeyer-
Mueller, 2000)
Self-efficacy (Wang et al. 2017)
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47. The University of Hong Kong