How Does Students’ Negative Feedback Affect University Teachers
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21751872 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Julia Mendzheritskaya (0000-0002-6096-4114, Goethe University Frankfurt, corresponding author), Nicola A Maier (0000-0001-5097-9622, Goethe University Frankfurt), Miriam Hansen (0000-0003-1290-7630, Goethe University Frankfurt) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 66 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Publication date | 2025-02-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Research in Higher Education (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1573-188X • E-ISSN: 0361-0365 |
| Publisher | Springer Science and Business Media LLC (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1007/s11162-024-09826-2 |
| OpenAlex | W4404854799 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 48 |
The relevance of student evaluation of teaching (SET) for both development of individual teaching as well as for institutional quality management in higher education (HE) contexts has been investigated in numerous studies. However, how educators incorporate students’ feedback into their teaching, especially in the case of negative evaluations, depends on how educators perceive and deal with students’ feedback. To address this issue, we conducted an experimental vignette study to document how university teachers ( N = 107) respond to negative SET at cognitive, emotional, and behavioral levels. Further, we varied the focus (student- vs. teacher-oriented) and the content (learning outcomes, interest in course, and learning activities) of feedback messages in the vignettes. Our results show that students’ negative feedback, especially concerning learning outcomes, evoked predominantly negative emotions of sadness or anxiety in HE teachers. Further, participants perceived the students’ negative feedback as moderately unstable and as to some extent limited within their control. Student-oriented negative comments regarding students’ interest in course or students’ engagement in learning activities were interpreted as more trustworthy and valid than negative feedback on teacher-focused characteristics related to the educators’ instructional competences. On average the participants indicated higher approach tendencies than avoidance tendencies after receiving students’ negative feedback. Finally, how HE teachers perceived and dealt with negative SET was linked to teachers’ perceived value of students’ feedback. Our findings underline the importance of incorporating more student-focused elements into SET and introducing activities that assist HE teachers in handling negative feedback within the SET process
Higher education · Mathematics education · Pedagogy · Political science · Communication · Communication in Education and Healthcare · Evaluation of Teaching Practices · Psychology · Social Psychology · Student Assessment and Feedback
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A review of feedback models and typologies
Eta squared and partial eta squared as measures of effect size in educational research
An attributional theory of achievement motivation and emotion.
The Control-Value Theory of Achievement Emotions
A Review of Feedback Models and Theories
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Reconceptualizing student ratings of teaching to support quality discourse on student learning
Student – Feedback Interaction Model
What contemporary work are student ratings actually doing in higher education
Meta-analysis of faculty's teaching effectiveness
Measuring Causal Attributions
Improving higher education practice through student evaluation systems
The Validity of Student Evaluation of Teaching in Higher Education
Appearance, insults, allegations, blame and threats
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Student Evaluation of Teaching Effectiveness
Faculty Views of Student Evaluation of College Teaching
Evaluating Student Evaluations of Teaching
Faculty attitudes about student evaluations and their relations to self-image as teacher
Goals
Bad is Stronger than Good
The Power of Feedback
The Repertoire of Nonverbal Behavior
How University Lecturers' Display of Emotion Affects Students' Emotions, Failure Attributions, and Behavioral Tendencies in Germany, Russia, and the United States
| Citations per year | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2026 - 2026 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |