Behavioral Feedback for Correct and Incorrect Responses¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · no claims cited

Description¶

Behavioral science distinguishes how to respond to a learner's correct versus incorrect responses, based on research into what actually changes behavior rather than what feels intuitively corrective.

Correct responses. When a learner responds correctly, the teacher should do two things immediately: (1) tell the learner the answer is correct, and (2) briefly describe what they did to obtain the correct answer (e.g., "That's right. You listed the five major events." rather than just "Correct."). Better learning results from telling learners not only what they got right, but why (Cooper, Heron, & Heward, 1987).

Incorrect responses. Scolding or verbally punishing careless mistakes is strongly discouraged. Instead, regardless of why the learner erred (carelessness, lack of knowledge, or lack of understanding), the recommended response is: (1) if the problem is purely factual, simply give the correct answer; (2) if it involves a more complex skill, point out the relevant rule, procedure, or steps; (3) ask the learner to correct the answer; or (4) assign extra practice. These responses deliberately omit preaching, scolding, or dwelling on the error itself, since such responses tend to produce anxiety and distaste for the work, encouraging disengagement rather than correction (Rodgers & Iwata, 1991).

Cautions for two groups. These recommendations improve learning for most students, but not universally. Low-achieving learners given material that is too difficult make many errors and experience mostly negative consequences; research shows that when error rates are high, little is learned from informational feedback at all (Kulik & Kulik, 1988; McKeachie, 1990) — the deeper fix is designing instruction to produce fewer errors in the first place, not delivering feedback differently. Separately, learners who are highly dependent on adult attention may persist in mistakes because of the attention the mistake itself draws; when a teacher's response focuses on the error (e.g., circling a reversed letter) rather than the correct answer, this can inadvertently reinforce the incorrect response. Experiments in which teachers circled only correct responses, and drew no attention at all to errors, produced dramatic improvements in learners' correct letter and digit formation (Hasazi & Hasazi, 1972; Stromer, 1975).

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Enough diagnostic clarity to tell whether an error is factual, procedural, or conceptual, so the right corrective response (answer, rule, or extra practice) can be chosen

Constraints¶

• Not effective as feedback alone for learners already experiencing high error rates — for that population, the priority is redesigning instruction to reduce errors (see Effective Presentation for Errorless Learning), not adjusting the feedback wording
• Risks reinforcing the wrong behavior in learners whose mistakes are attention-seeking, if the teacher's response draws more attention to the error than to correct performance

Target Learners¶

• Most classroom learners receiving routine correctness feedback
• Learners prone to attention-seeking through errors, for whom feedback should deliberately highlight correct responses over incorrect ones
• Low-achieving learners with high error rates, for whom the underlying instructional design (not the feedback style) is the priority to fix

Target Learning Goals¶

• Reinforcing correct performance patterns while correcting errors without provoking anxiety, avoidance, or inadvertent reinforcement of the mistake itself

Instructions¶

1. On a correct response, state that it is correct and briefly name what the learner did to get there.
2. On an incorrect response, avoid scolding or dwelling on the mistake; instead give the correct answer (factual errors), name the relevant rule or steps (procedural/conceptual errors), have the learner redo it, or assign extra practice.
3. For learners with persistently high error rates, treat this as a signal to simplify or resequence instruction rather than only adjusting feedback delivery.
4. For learners who seem to seek attention through mistakes, deliberately shift attention toward correct responses and minimize visible attention to errors.

Related Strategies¶

• Effective Presentation for Errorless Learning — reduces the error rate this feedback approach is designed to respond to
• Least-to-Most Prompting Hierarchy — prompts prevent errors before the response; this strategy addresses what to do once a response has been made
• Keep an extra unassigned spectrum (a red giant) in reserve to challenge students who finish early or reach an incorrect answer
• Use indirect correction and self-correction to avoid face-threatening error treatment
• Question students about why a correct answer was chosen, rather than why an error was made
• Avoid comforting cues that divert children's attention away from their mistakes

Examples¶

Key Sources¶

• Cooper, J. O., Heron, T. E., & Heward, W. L. (1987). Applied behavior analysis. Merrill.
• Rodgers, T. A., & Iwata, B. A. (1991). An analysis of error-correction procedures during discrimination training. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 24(4), 775-781.
• Kulik, J. A., & Kulik, C. C. (1988). Timing of feedback and verbal learning. Review of Educational Research, 58(1), 79-97. doi:10.3102/00346543058001079
• McKeachie, W. J. (1990). Research on college teaching: The historical background. Journal of Educational Psychology, 82(2), 189-200.
• Hasazi, J. E., & Hasazi, S. E. (1972). Effects of teacher attention on digit-reversal behavior in an elementary school child. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 5(2), 157-162.
• Stromer, R. (1975). Modifying letter and number reversals in elementary school children. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 8(2), 211.
• Arduini-Van Hoose, N. (2020). Behaviorism in the classroom. In Educational psychology. Retrieved from https://edpsych.pressbooks.sunycreate.cloud. CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.