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serve as an avenue of dynamically interactive com-
munication between an instructor and students.
Interactive communication between an instruc-
tor and students, as a matter of fact, promotes
students' self-assessment and self-reflection,
which in turn enables them to participate in de-
ciphering goals/objectives as well as feedback
information actively. This intrapersonal process
of communication has been interpreted by Nicol
and MacFarlane-Dick (2006) as the internal in-
teractive thinking process essential for learning
success (see Nicol & MacFarlane-Dick for the
related model in detail). The explication of this
internal interactive thinking process that follows
has been modified to a certain extent in order to
underline the discussion underway.
The internal interactive thinking process starts
with an academic assignment set by an instructor
in class. The assignment triggers various levels of
self-regulatory processes in students and expects
them to draw on their prior knowledge as well as
their motivational beliefs to make a decision as
to how to tackle the task. In the decision making
process, students have to construct a personal inter-
pretation not only of what the assignment means,
but also of the expectations of the instructor. If
students decide only to pass the task or if they can-
not apprehend given expectations, the discrepancy
between the goals set by the instructor and that by
the students themselves would not be marginal.
The motivation for the students to complete the
task might be low as well. Since feedback offers
information regarding how the students' current
state of learning and performance relates to goals
stipulated by an instructor (Nicol & MacFarlane-
Dick, 2006), students spawn an internal thinking
process, after receiving external feedback from an
instructor. This thinking process propels them to
make another decision, where they need to decide
whether they would keep current progress as is
or if some kind of change is necessary. Feedback
offered by an instructor in this fashion conveys
assessment results formatively. The resulting
internal thinking process will have an effect on
student learning cognitively, affectively, and mo-
tivationally (Nicol & MacFarlane-Dick) and is a
by-product of purposeful engagement in a task
(Nicol & MacFarlane-Dick, 2006).
Evaluative results, such as scores or grades, do
not lead students to give attention to purposeful
learning, but are high-stakes summative assess-
ment (Nicol & MacFarlane-Dick, 2006), as they
only inform students that they need to be competi-
tive with peers for grades (Harlen & Crick, 2003,
Nicol & MacFarlane-Dick). They cannot assist
students in judging their own performance, mak-
ing self-corrections, and directing them to know
how to proceed next (Freeman & Lewis, 1998).
Conversely, feedback that is informational and
explanatory is low-stakes assessment (Nicol and
MacFarlane-Dick), which helps students see what
deficiencies exist in relation to criteria. This form
of formative assessment can simultaneously galva-
nize students' thinking and provide students with
opportunities to learn, relearn, or revisit concepts
studied. Gibbs and Simpson (2004) posited that if
students received feedback regularly or quite often
as formative assessment, they were enthusiastic
about using external feedback for improvements.
Thus, the power of internal interactive thought
process would gradually help students learn how
to better monitor and self-regulate their progress.
Self-regulated learning refers to the students' ca-
pability to regulate their thinking. Not only can
this capability motivate students to learn intrinsi-
cally, but also promotes them to assess their own
performance against goals (Duffy & Holmboe,
2006; Nicol & Mcfarlane-Dick; Sadler, 1989).
Provided that this positive cycle of the quest for
learning is repetitive, students would maintain
the momentum of a passionate spirit of learning
throughout their lives (Boud, 2000). It has also
been affirmed by Bolhuis (2002), Duffy and
Holmboe, Krathworhl et al., in Mottet et al., and
Nicol and Mcfarlane-Dick that self-direction, self-
monitoring, self-regulation, and self-motivation
are some of the foundational elements in lifelong
learning.
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