Student engagement in exemplar-based dialogic feedback and its facilitation in assessed writing

While previous studies illustrate the usefulness of exemplar-based dialogic feedback in teaching, student engagement in exemplar-based dialogic feedback and its facilitation in assessed writing assignments is unexplored. Six Hong Kong sub-degree students participated in this qualitative case study. The researcher used retrospective semi-structured interviews, reflective journals, and teachers’ comments on marked assignments to collect data. The findings indicate that there are different levels of student engagement ranging between active, moderate, and less-engaged interplay with academic, affective, behavioural, cognitive, and socio-cultural dimensions and the content of the feedback. Although the participants had different levels of engagement, they experienced positive impacts on the assessed assignment in two broad areas: enhancement of content knowledge (developing arguments and providing supportive evidence) and writing skills (framing the writing structure and the correct use of language).