Development and Validation of Feedback Routines for Instructing Students with Learning Disabilities

Abstract

This investigation focused on validating two feedback routines for use by special education teachers to enhance the performance of students with learning disabilities. One routine (the Feedback Routine) involved teacher-delivered elaborated feedback, the other (the Feedback-Plus-Assistance Routine) consisted of elaborated feedback plus a student-acceptance routine, which included setting goals for the next practice trial. Two experimental designs were employed: one to determine whether teachers could learn the routines, the other to determine the effects on student learning. Dependent measures were (a) teacher and student performance of the routines, (b) student trials to mastery, and (c) student errors across trials. Measures of teacher and student satisfaction and teacher maintenance were also gathered. Results indicated that the special education teachers effectively integrated the routines into their teaching repertoires. Further, the routines significantly reduced the number of student trials to mastery and the number of student errors in practice attempts following feedback sessions. The two routines appeared equally powerful in terms of teacher and student learning; however, the teachers continued to maintain the routine requiring student involvement in goal setting for a longer period.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Bartholomae

(1980). The study of error. College Composition and Communication, 31, 253–269.

Bloom

B. S.

(1984). The search for methods of group instruction as effective as one-to-one tutoring. Educational Leadership, 41 (8), 4–18.

Bloom

R. B.

Bourdon

(1980). Types and frequencies of teachers' written instructional feedback. Journal of Educational Research, 74 (1), 13–15.

Brophy

J. E.

(1979). Teacher behavior and students' learning. Educational Leadership, 37 (1), 33–38.

Brophy

J. E.

Good

T. L.

(1986). Teacher behavior and student achievement. In Wittrock

M. C.

(Ed.), Handbook of research on teaching (pp. 328–375). New York: MacMillan Publishing Company.

Collins

Carnine

Gersten

(1987). Elaborated corrective feedback and the acquisition of reasoning skills: A study of computer-assisted instruction. Exceptional Children, 54 (3), 254–262.

Cooley

S. A.

(1987). A theoretical and empirical investigation of formulas for determining a severe discrepancy between aptitude and achievement used as a criterion in identification of learning disabilities Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Kansas.

Corno

Snow

R. E.

(1986). Adapting teaching to individual differences among learners. In Wittrock

M. C.

(Ed.), Handbook of research on teaching (pp. 605–629). New York: MacMillan Publishing Company.

Deshler

D. D.

Ferrell

W. R.

Kass

C. E.

(1979). Monitoring of schoolwork errors by LD adolescents. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 11 (7), 10–23.

10.

Deshler

D. D.

Lenz

B. K.

(in press). The strategies instructional approach. International Journal of Disability, Development, and Education.

11.

Graham

(1985). Teaching basic academic skills to learning disabled students: A model of the teaching-learning process. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 18, 528–534.

12.

Hays

R. T.

Blaiwes

A. S.

(1987). Knowledge of results in training device design: Individual and team applications. Journal of Educational Technology Systems, 15 (2), 171–191.

13.

Joyce

B. R.

Showers

(1982). The coaching of teaching. Educational Leadership, 40, 4–10.

14.

Kansas State Department of Education. (1987). Guidelines for identifying children and youth with specific learning disabilities. Topeka: Author.

15.

Kea

C. D.

(1987). An analysis of critical teaching behaviors employed by teachers of students with mild handicaps Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Kansas.

16.

Kulhavy

R. W.

(1977). Feedback in written instruction. Review of Educational Research, 47 (1), 211–232.

17.

Langer

Keenan

Medosch-Schonbeck

C. M.

(1985 April), Feedback and the reconstruction of meaning A paper presented at the meeting of the Rocky Mountain Psychological Association, Tucson, AZ.

18.

Mims

R. M.

Gholson

(1977). Effects of the type and amount of feedback upon hypothesis sampling systems among 7- and 8-year old children. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 24, 358–371.

19.

Perkins

V. L.

(1988). Feedback effects on oral reading errors of children with learning disabilities. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 21 (4), 244–248.

20.

Roehler

L. R.

Duffy

G. G.

(1984). Direct explanation of comprehension processes. In Duffy

G. G.

Roehler

L. R.

(Eds.), Comprehension instruction (pp. 265–278). New York: Longman Inc.

21.

Rosenberg

M. S.

(1986). Error-correction during oral reading: A comparison of three techniques. Learning Disability Quarterly, 9 (3), 182–192.

22.

Rosenshine

Stevens

(1986). Teaching functions. In Wittrock

M. C.

(Ed.), Handbook of research on teaching (pp. 376–391). New York: MacMillan Publishing Comany.

23.

Schumaker

J. B.

Clark

F. L.

(1990). Achieving implementation of strategy instruction through effective inservice education. Teacher Education and Special Education, 13 (2), 105–116.

24.

Schumaker

J. B.

Deshler

D. D.

Ellis

E. S.

(1986). Intervention issues related to the education of LD adolescents. In Torgesen

J. D.

Wong

B. Y. L.

(Eds.), Learning disabilities: Some new perspectives (pp. 329–365). New York: Academic Press, Inc.

25.

Schumaker

J. B.

Sheldon

(1985). The sentence writing strategy. Lawrence: University of Kansas.

26.

Sheldon

Schumaker

J. B.

(1985). The sentence writing strategy: The student lessons. Lawrence, KS: Edge Publishing.

27.

Stallings

J. A.

(1976). How instructional processes relate to child outcomes in a national study of follow through. Journal of Teacher Education, 27 (1), 43–47.

28.

Walberg

H. J.

(1984). Improving the productivity of America's schools. Educational Leadership, 4 (8), 19–27.

29.

Walberg

H. J.

(1986). Synthesis of research on teaching. In Wittrock

M. C.

(Ed.), Handbook of research on teaching, 3rd edition: A project of the American educational research association. New York: MacMillan Publishing Co.

30.

Wechsler

(1974). Wechsler intelligence scale for children-revised. New York: The Psychological Corporation.

31.

Wilkinson

(1987). SYSTAT: The system for statistics. Evanston, IL: SYSTAT, Inc.

32.

Woodcock

R. W.

Johnson

M. B.

(1977). The Woodcock-Johnson psychoeducational battery. Allen, TX: DLM Teaching Resources.