The language of praise and criticism in a student evaluation survey

What is it about?

This study applies linguistic theory to examine the language form and structure used when university students provide written evaluative feedback in surveys. As well as contrasting the target of comments and intensification of language between praise and criticism, it highlights how students moderate language when criticising, often objectifying teaching as an act. In contrast, praise is often targeted at teachers and stated as confident bald assertions.

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Why is it important?

The student voice is increasingly central to reform in higher education. However, with the proliferation of national and institutional evaluative surveys the focus of research is almost entirely on quantitative measures of satisfaction. Written feedback comments are neglected. This study is the first to systematically analyse a sample of student evaluative feedback grounded in formal linguistic theory. Profiling language markers has great potential for comparative analyses of feedback.