Teachers’ Feedback Literacy Practices at an International Baccalaureate Diploma Program in Turkey

Feedback (FB) literacy refers to both student capacity to find, create, interpret, and implement FB as well as teacher capacity to use FB to guide their instructional decisions, plan FB opportunities within formative learning cycles, and offer appropriate types and levels of FB that satisfy diverse learning needs. The problem that was investigated through this study was that International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP) teachers at a private Turkish high school (THS) struggle with FB literacy necessary for leveraging effective practices to enhance student learning. The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine FB practices that supported student learning at THS. The conceptual frameworks for this study were Boud and Dawson's FB literacy competency framework and Hattie and Timperley’s model of FB. The research question guiding this study focused on FB practices IBDP teachers at THS used to support student learning. For this basic qualitative design, semistructured interviews were conducted with 13 IBDP teachers who had self-reported experience providing FB. Data were coded with a priori, open, and axial codes and then thematically analyzed, resulting in the emergence of three themes: participants’ FB practices were (a) influenced by summative assessment pressures, (b) mostly transmission-based, and (c) needed to shift from summative to formative. These findings led to the development of a professional development workshop that could contribute to positive social change by supporting teacher FB literacy development. In turn, this may benefit students because teachers will be better equipped to satisfy diverse learning needs and help students understand and use FB effectively, leading to improved learning outcomes and success in future educational settings.