In literacy development, feedback isn’t an add-on—it’s the engine that drives growth.
Research consistently shows that students make stronger gains when they receive frequent, timely, and meaningful feedback during their learning process, not just after it (Hattie & Timperley, 2007; Black & Wiliam, 2009).
Yet in many classrooms feedback on literacy is often unevenly distributed with a bias toward reading skills, while feedback on listening, speaking, and expressive writing—equal foundations of literacy development—often receive far less feedback. ( Goldenberg, C. (2008; Graham & Perin, 2007; Pearson & Cervetti, 2017)
Feedback Across All Language Modalities Matters
Literacy, along with language, develops through interaction, not isolation. Students thrive with human feedback (from both teachers and peers) when they must:
• Listen – to clarify meaning, confirm understanding, and notice key language structures
• Speak – to refine pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary choice, and discourse patterns
• Read – to improve comprehension, strategy use, and meaning-making
• Write – to strengthen sentence construction, cohesion, and clarity of ideas
Of all modalities, oral language feedback is one of the most overlooked, even though oral language practice plays a critical role in vocabulary growth, syntax development, and comprehension (Snow, 2010; Pearson & Gallagher, 1983).
Why Feedback Must Be Human
Technology can provide practice feedback—such as correctness, pacing, or repetition—but it cannot replace human feedback. Only teachers can:
• Interpret intent and partial understanding
• Respond to cultural and linguistic nuance
• Encourage risk-taking and confidence in language use
• Model rich, responsive language in the moment
Human feedback is relational. It tells students: I see you. I hear you. I’m helping you grow. This is especially important for developing readers and multilingual learners who rely on responsive interaction to build meaning, identity, and confidence (Vygotsky, 1978; Hammond, 2015; Goldenberg & Wagner, 2015; Cummins, 2017).
Human Feedback Fuels Literacy and Language Growth
The ideal approach for literacy teachers is feedback that “baked into” instructional design—not something reserved for the end of an assignment or unit.
Students make faster and more durable progress in both literacy and language when feedback is:
• Frequent (embedded daily, not episodic)
• Low-stakes (guidance, not judgment)
• Actionable (clear next steps)
Takeaway for Educators
Frequent, human feedback—across listening, speaking, reading, and expressive writing—is one of the most powerful tools we have to support literacy and language development. Technology can help extend opportunities for practice, but human teachers remain the essential, motivating source of feedback in a child’s learning journey.
Cynthia Harrison Barbera
Cynthia Harrison Barbera is President and CEO, StoryWorld International. She served as VP Educational Technology for Scholastic and is the recipient of two US Presidential awards for educational programs. An Emmy-award winner for a television series on education, she has taught English to native-speakers and ELL students in the US and overseas.
References:
- Black, P., & Wiliam, D. (2009). Developing the theory of formative assessment. Educational Assessment, Evaluation and Accountability, 21(1), 5–31. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11092-008-9068-5
- Cummins, J. (2017). Teaching for transfer in multilingual school contexts. Educational Research and Evaluation, 23(1–2), 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1080/13803611.2017.1392532
- Goldenberg, C. (2008). Teaching English language learners: What the research does—and does not—say. American Educator, 32(2), 8–23.
- Goldenberg, C., & Wagner, K. (2015). Bilingual education: Reviving an American tradition. American Educator, 39(3), 28–35.
- Graham, S., & Perin, D. (2007). Writing next: Effective strategies to improve writing of adolescents in middle and high schools. Alliance for Excellent Education.
- Hammond, Z. (2015). Culturally responsive teaching and the brain. Corwin Press.
- Hattie, J., & Timperley, H. (2007). The power of feedback. Review of Educational Research, 77(1), 81–112. https://doi.org/10.3102/003465430298487
- Pearson, P. D., & Cervetti, G. N. (2017). The roots of reading comprehension instruction. In S. E. Israel (Ed.), Handbook of research on reading comprehension (2nd ed.). Guilford Press.
- Pearson, P. D., & Gallagher, M. C. (1983). The instruction of reading comprehension. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 8(3), 317–344. https://doi.org/10.1016/0361-476X(83)90019-X
- Snow, C. E. (2010). Academic language and the challenge of reading for learning. Science, 328(5977), 450–452. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1182597
- Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Harvard University Press.