The Impact of Constructive Criticism In Higher Education

Seyed Mehdi Mirshojaei

2022-09-25

Abstract
Constructive criticism is used widely in higher education and is deemed to be beneficial for students. Yet,
it is a generic term and its aspects are needed to be verified and explained in detail. The aim of this study
is to overview the literature, elaborate the term and evaluate its impacts, and provide some suggestions for
further studies.

Introduction
The term “Constructive Criticism” is used in organizations, universities, schools and so forth, and as its
name implies, assumed to be a positive process which aims to provide feedback to criticism receiver regarding
their work, assignment and so on. More specifically, the feedback is supposed to be so constructive that help
receivers to improve their learning and utilize it to broaden their prospect. But, why being constructive
should be a critical characteristic of a criticism. Indeed, some students might consider the criticism as a sign
of failure specifically if the feedback is given orally in class.
However, if the feedback is provided in a way that student can accept and consider it as a positive tool
which can be used for reviewing their learning methods, then the feeling of disappointment and anxiety
will be replaced by hope and motivation for better learning and greater achievements (Fong et al. 2018).
To obtain better perception regarding the constructive criticism, some articles related to the subject are
reviewed and then discussion about the term is provided.

Previous Studies
Many studies have been done for examining the impact of constructive criticism on students and evalu-
ating the effectiveness of different feedback methods. In (Wulandari and Anugerahwati 2021), the authors
studied the effect of given oral constructive criticism in class to English learner students. They employed
mixture of a questionnaire and an interview and gathered data from 86 students who learned English as their
second language. The findings of the research demonstrated the positive understanding of students towards
constructive criticism. The students properly realized that learning a second language consists of a lot of
trials and failures and by receiving criticism, they would be able to learn from their mistakes and prevent
them in future. In addition, the researchers found that criticism did not disappoint the students. In fact, it
positively impacted their motivation to be the best of themselves. More importantly, it was revealed that the
relationship between the students and the university faculty is vitally important. Indeed, students trusted
the faculty members and consider their feedback as just a constructive tool for improving their language.
In (Corbin 2019), the author which is an English instructor, implemented his own method for giving the
constructive criticism to students. Indeed, beside giving feedback with details of all mistakes, the instructor
tried another approach by highlighting the problematic parts and asking the students to correct their mistakes
using an error correction guide. According to the research findings, the students understood and respected
the importance of detailed and thorough feedback by instructor which contains all mistakes. However, they
also found the second method (highlighting mistakes) useful for their studies as they were involved in the
correction procedure instead of being inactive and just receiving comments from the teacher. The latter

1
method implies that involving students in correcting their mistakes will not only help them to benefit from
the feedback and improve their grades, but also will reduce the burden of the instructor in case of high
number of students in a class. Indeed, the teacher will find more time to spend with students and talk about
their concerns instead of correcting all their mistakes one by one.
Another study, (Leung et al. 2022), asked dental students in 9 European countries to respond to a
questionnaire to find their perceptions of received feedback from the professors. 234 students participated
in this study. Most students preferred receiving constructive feedback from the university and realized that
provided feedback were helpful for their learning. Also, many students mentioned that receiving praise was
quite motivating for their learning. Interestingly, a minor part of students preferred negative criticism while
most participants tended to receive constructive criticism.

Discussion
The impact of feedback in higher education is of great importance as it can directly affect the emotion
and feelings of the feedback receiver. In all of the above mentioned researches, the data is gathered through
one or more questionnaires which contained several questions and in some cases, combined with interview.
Such survey forms are usually prepared by the authors, and most of the time they have not been checked
through psychological criteria. As a result, reader’s doubt may arise regarding the validity of the study’s
findings because the measuring tools (questionnaire and interview) may not be trustworthy. Therefore,
research questionnaires are required to be investigated and refined by psychologists in order to make sure
major aspects of participants’ feelings are considered in the research.
On the other hand, the time frames of mentioned researches were limited to the number of days that
the authors gathered data through questionnaires and interviews. However, longer observation period, for
instance one semester or one academic year, is needed to deeply analyze the influence of the criticism on
students. In this way, researchers collect extra data which assist them in creating more accurate model and
more reliable output of the study. Moreover, they have the chance to monitor the performance of students
at the end of the period and verify whether it is compatible with their expectations or not. Consequently,
a positive correlation between study’s expectations and students’ performances will demonstrate that the
research follows correct path.
Another subject that received less attention in previous studies, is the relationship between feedback
provider and feedback receiver, which can be summarized to teacher and student in this context. One can
roughly express that a strong relationship between two sides will lead to higher effectiveness of the criticism,
but what if there is no strong or positive student-teacher relationship, or even there is a conflict between
them. Can someone say that the provided feedback in such condition is not constructive or even detrimental?
Creating positive mutual relationship requires cooperation from both sides which seems to be difficult in some
circumstances. It is quite probable that, for example, a teacher is not a sociable person or is introverted, so
creating a friendly relationship with students could be difficult for him/her. But does it necessarily impact
his assessment in a negative way? Or in case of a minor conflict between two sides, does it always lead to a
biased or unfair feedback from the teacher?
By taking into consideration the mentioned items, it seems researchers who work on the subject are
supposed to expand their studies’ targets and come up with more challenging and controversial ideas for
their future works. This will lead to growth of the field as more diverse studies will be done which bring
more interesting subjects for future researchers .

Conclusion
To conclude, previous studies about criticism and feedback in higher education confirm that positive and
productive assessments are usually welcomed by the receivers which in most cases enable them to enhance
their learning and acquire motivation to be the best of themselves. Depending on different conditions and
model of teaching, the instructors may employ various methods for providing the constructive criticism. The
main types of criticism can include oral or written feedback, and detailed or brief one. In brief feedback,
teacher highlights problematic parts and motivates students to be proactive and correct their mistakes

2
by themselves through guidance materials. Finally, in spite of vast studies regarding the subject, still
challenging and controversial researches are scarce, which need more attention from analysts for their future
examinations.

Referencese
Corbin, Bryan. 2019. “Students’ Wants and Preferences for Essay Feedback in College Level English
Courses.” English in Texas 49 (2): 24–30.
Fong, Carlton J, Diane L Schallert, Kyle M Williams, Zachary H Williamson, Jayce R Warner, Shengjie
Lin, and Young Won Kim. 2018. “When Feedback Signals Failure but Offers Hope for Improvement: A
Process Model of Constructive Criticism.” Thinking Skills and Creativity 30: 42–53.
Leung, Albert, Peter D Fine, Robert Blizard, Ingrid Tonni, Duygu İlhan, and Chris Louca. 2022. “Teacher
Feedback and Student Learning–the Students??? Perspective.” Journal of Dentistry 125: 104242.
Wulandari, Anggi Putri Suri, and Mirjam Anugerahwati. 2021. “The Power of Constructive Criticism and
Its Effect on Students’ Learning Motivation.” JEES (Journal of English Educators Society) 6 (2): 301–8.