Chapter 19 Quiz: Feedback

Instructions

Answer all questions. Multiple-choice questions: select the best answer. Short-answer questions: one to three sentences. Check answers against the key at the end.

Question 1

According to the chapter, which two fundamental functions does feedback serve in learning?

A) Motivation and evaluation B) Error correction and confirmation C) Instruction delivery and outcome measurement D) Self-assessment and external verification

Question 2

The "guidance hypothesis" in motor learning research suggests that:

A) Expert guidance is more effective than self-directed practice for all learners B) Providing feedback after every attempt can impair learning by preventing learners from developing their own error-detection systems C) Learners should seek guidance from multiple sources simultaneously for fastest improvement D) Guidance is only effective when it precedes rather than follows a practice attempt

Question 3

Which of the following is an example of process feedback?

A) "Your 100m freestyle time was 58.4 seconds." B) "You need to work harder." C) "Your stroke rate drops from 44 to 38 strokes per minute in the final 25 meters — you're not maintaining effort through the turn, which is costing you approximately 1.5 seconds." D) "Your performance today was better than last week."

Question 4

True or False: Research suggests that "You're so smart" is less effective praise than "You worked really hard" — and that strategy-focused praise ("what worked was how you approached each step") is even more effective than effort-focused praise.

Question 5

According to the guidance hypothesis and related research, when is it better to delay feedback rather than provide it immediately?

A) When the learner is a complete novice and needs time to figure out the error on their own B) When the performance involves a complex physical skill that requires extended processing C) When learners are past the novice stage and need to develop self-monitoring — waiting for self-assessment before providing external feedback builds autonomous error detection D) Feedback should always be immediate; delay only reduces its effectiveness

Question 6

Keiko's experience with the underwater camera illustrates which fundamental problem with self-generated feedback?

A) Recording equipment introduces performance anxiety that distorts results B) The gap between our felt sense of our performance and our actual performance is often very large, and we cannot correct errors we cannot perceive C) Visual feedback is more reliable than coach feedback but harder to interpret D) Self-generated feedback only works when combined with external coach feedback

Question 7

Which of the following feedback requests is most likely to produce useful, specific information?

A) "What do you think of my project?" B) "Any feedback welcome!" C) "I'd love your general impressions of how I did." D) "I want to know whether my argument structure is logically sound — does each step follow from the previous one? Please focus on logic rather than writing style."

Question 8

True or False: Generic positive feedback ("Good job!") is useful for learning because it provides confirmation and motivates continued effort.

Question 9

What does the chapter identify as a risk of tracking objective performance metrics?

Write two to three sentences.

Question 10

According to the chapter, what is the value of asking students or learners to self-assess their performance before providing coach or teacher feedback?

A) It saves the teacher time by requiring less explanation B) It builds the self-monitoring skills that ultimately allow learners to improve independently C) Self-assessment before feedback improves accuracy of the feedback provided D) It reduces the emotional sting of critical feedback by preparing learners for it

Question 11

Complete the deliberate practice feedback loop by filling in the missing steps: Attempt → [blank] → Compare to standard → [blank] → Adjust → Attempt again

A) Evaluate performance → Review prior attempts B) Observe outcome → Identify the gap C) Check against rules → Calculate error rate D) Confirm success → Plan next attempt

Question 12

Elena, the piano teacher, noticed that after shifting to specific process feedback and asking students to self-assess first, students improved faster and became better at independent practice. What mechanism explains the improvement in independent practice specifically?

Write two to three sentences.

Answer Key

1. B — Feedback serves two functions: error correction (identifying what was wrong so it can be changed) and confirmation (confirming what was right so it can be replicated and stabilized). Both are essential.

2. B — The guidance hypothesis holds that constant external feedback creates dependence on external correction and prevents learners from developing their own error-detection systems. This impairs the autonomous self-monitoring needed for improvement without a coach present.

3. C — This is process feedback because it identifies the specific cause (stroke rate drop, inadequate effort through the turn) that produced the outcome, with enough specificity to act on. Option A is outcome feedback; B is vague causal attribution; D is comparative outcome feedback.

4. True — Dweck's research showed that intelligence-focused praise ("you're smart") creates fixed-mindset incentives to avoid challenge. Effort-focused praise ("you worked hard") is better. But strategy-focused praise — identifying the specific strategies that produced success — is even more powerful because it makes those strategies explicitly conscious and transferable.

5. C — Once learners are past the novice stage, deliberately withholding immediate feedback and asking for self-assessment first builds the internal monitoring systems needed for independent improvement. This is more effective for intermediate and advanced learners than the immediate correction that serves novices well.

6. B — Keiko's case illustrates the fundamental unreliability of self-perception in performance. Her felt sense of her stroke had developed around the wrong technique, so verbal feedback couldn't correct it — she couldn't feel what was described. The video bypassed her proprioceptive model and provided undeniable objective evidence.

7. D — This request is specific about what aspect of the work to evaluate (argument logic), at what level (step-by-step logical connection), and what to exclude (writing style). This specificity makes it easy for the feedback-giver to provide actionable information and signals that the requester has already done some self-assessment.

8. False — The chapter makes clear that "Good job!" contains no specific information that allows the learner to identify, replicate, or understand what went well. It may feel motivating briefly but doesn't produce the kind of learning that specific, process-oriented feedback produces.

9. Sample answer: The risk of metrics is that what you measure shapes what you practice — optimizing for measured metrics may come at the expense of unmeasured aspects of performance. For example, a swimmer who tracks only speed may optimize for it at the expense of technique. Metrics should be chosen thoughtfully to measure factors that genuinely predict the performance that matters, not just factors that are easy to quantify.

10. B — The value of self-assessment before external feedback is primarily developmental: it forces learners to practice the self-monitoring skills that eventually allow them to improve without external feedback. Over time, this builds the internal feedback system that independent practice requires.

11. B — The complete loop: Attempt → Observe outcome → Compare to standard → Identify the gap → Adjust → Attempt again. Both observation and gap identification are dependent on feedback — without information about the outcome and how it compared to the standard, neither step is possible.

12. Sample answer: By consistently requiring students to self-assess before providing her own feedback, Elena was giving students structured practice in self-monitoring — the cognitive skill of observing and evaluating their own performance. Over time, students developed internal models of what their playing should sound like, accurate enough to detect deviations independently. This internal standard is what allows practice outside the lesson to be productive, because students can now identify their own errors rather than waiting for a teacher to identify them.