Social work students with English as an additional language: examining written assessment feedback

Little is known about what academics focus on when providing assessment feedback to international students for whom English is an additional language (EAL). This study examines written assessment feedback provided to 11 EAL-speaking international students throughout a two-year Master of Social Work programme and investigates their perspectives of this. Content analysis of written feedback revealed considerable variations in the volume, format and focus of feedback; this was also reflected in data provided by participants in interviews. Feedback was mainly content-focused, with a low chance of wider transferability, while language and academic skills had a limited focus. Participants’ attitude toward feedback and their reported engagement with it is in alignment with the process view of feedback. This study concludes with suggestions to further facilitate student engagement with feedback and improve consistency across the Social Work programme.