Formative Assessment and Feedback with Teacher Immediacy Behaviors in an E-Text-Based Context - E-Infrastructures and Technologies for Lifelong Learning - page 368

Since this chapter focuses on formative as-
sessment and feedback by means of teacher
immediacy behaviors in an e-text-based learn-
ing environment, plans for the relevant training
are suggested as follows, (1) Effort should be
made to increase the awareness of instructors
that e-text-only communication tools are es-
sentially omnipresent, such as email and discus-
sion board/forums. These communication tools
are relatively cost-effective and comparatively
popular among many people, instructors and
students alike. Therefore, it is judicious to adopt
such a tool to communicate with students and to
facilitate their learning. And learning how to use
this kind of tool for communication is not at all
a hard undertaking. (2) With the technological
skills mastered, instructors and others ought to
be helped to understand theoretically why it is
imperative to engage in formative assessment
and feedback, what teacher immediacy behaviors
refer to, why teacher immediacy cues are needed
in the provision of formative feedback, and how
these behaviors are associated with higher-order
affective learning as well as with lifelong learning.
(3) Specific practical strategies of how to com-
municate with students in a computer-mediated
text-based learning context can be introduced and
discussed at this stage. Emphases should be placed
on how to deliver formative feedback with New
Comment and Track Changes, where and why
comments should be posted, how to encourage
students to engage in revisions, and other related
concerns and matters. (4) To conclude the training
session, it should be made explicitly clear that an
instructor's committed mind and heart, flexibility,
creativity, sensitivity, and responsivity are crucial
in effectively working with students in an e-text-
based learning environment.

examining the interaction between instructor
and students in an online learning environment
is still in its infancy (Gallien & Oomen-Early,
2008). Notwithstanding that much has been ad-
dressed concerning communication with students
via online discussion, little has been done on the
subject of formative assessment and feedback with
the use of teacher immediacy cues in a text-based
classroom environment. Engaging in a research
study in this genre would be helpful for instruc-
tors since students come to learn with a certain
expectation of their instructor's competent com-
munication behaviors (Witt & Schrodt, 2006).
In communicating with students in writing,
Myers and Bryant (2004) only mentioned sending
and receiving emails and grading assignments.
There was no mention as to how and in what way
assignments were graded, let alone what types of
feedback had been offered to students' assign-
ments. In the provision of students' performance
feedback, at times, an instructor's good intention
is not always appreciated by students, often leav-
ing an ill-fated effect on both the instructor and
student. The instructor views the practice as a
waste of time if the student becomes upset about
it. The student, on the other hand, is frustrated,
as he or she perceives the feedback to be unhelp-
ful. Hence, it might be beneficial to study how
to provide formative assessment feedback that
not only represents relational messages, but also
embodies constructive and useful guidance.

REFERENCES

Andersen, J. F. (1979). Teacher immediacy as a
predictor of teaching effectiveness. Communica-
tion Yearbook , 3 , 543-559.

Andersen, P., & Andersen, J. (1982). Nonverbal
immediacy in instruction. In Barker, L. (Ed.),
Communication in the classroom (pp. 98-120).
Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

FUTURE RESEARCH DIRECTION

Although technology is becoming ubiquitous in
the higher education classroom today, research