Effects of timing of formative feedback in computer-assisted learning environments

This study examines the effects of timing of corrective formative feedback on processing text information on question-answering. Undergraduate students read an expository text and answered questions in two attempts. Students were randomly assigned to a no feedback, immediate feedback and delayed feedback conditions. Students in the feedback conditions received feedback on the correctness of their answer after the first attempt and were informed about the right answer after the second attempt. Students were prompted to restudy the text after failing in their first attempt. However, students in the no feedback condition were just prompted to search the text. All students were tested on question-answering, corrective probability and a post-test cued-recall test. Results showed that: (a) feedback reduced the initial time reading the text; (b) feedback increased performance on question answering and cued-recall; (c) delayed feedback produced no advantages over immediate feedback. Theoretical and practical implications of these results are discussed.