Understanding individual differences in students’ responses to technology-based feedback on a writing task: the role of achievement motives and initial task performance

Computer-based feedback interventions are generally effective—but not for all students. Students’ achievement motives (hopes for success, fear of failure) might explain how students respond to feedback in interplay with initial task performance. In a sample of 949 secondary school students in Germany (Grades 7–9) we found that when the task criterion was initially not met, higher hopes for success were positively associated with students’ subsequent task performance after receiving automated feedback. When the criterion was initially met, a higher fear of failure was negatively related to the subsequent task performance. Our results suggest that achievement motives can play a complex role at different levels of initial task performance. These insights could inform personalized feedback design to enhance feedback effectiveness in cognitively demanding tasks.