Investigating the effects of length of teacher feedback on student effort and performance

Feedback is widely used to impact student motivation and learning. Although teacher feedback has been well studied, there is a gap in the literature when specifically accounting for how feedback length and goal orientation affect student motivation, performance, and effort. Participants first completed an ambiguous exam and were told they received a 75%. Participants were randomly assisted to groups varying in orientation (Growth, Performance) and length (short, long). After receiving feedback, they rated their motivation to do well on the second exam. They then completed a second test measuring their effort and performance. Results showed that there were no main effects of feedback orientation or feedback length on motivation, performance, or effort. However, there was a marginal interaction between feedback orientation and length. In the performance-feedback condition, students who received short feedback performed marginally better than those who received long feedback. These findings suggest that effectiveness of feedback may depend on the interaction between the type of feedback and length, rather than either factor independently. This highlights the complexity of feedback that affects students, motivation, effort, and performance.