Continuing to use the feedback form

I'm about 5 weeks into semester and the Writing students have handed in a number of writing tasks - the Curriculum Vitae, cover letter, a process analysis, and a 3-paragraph essay on an aspect of the UNAM. Next Monday they'll be posting their opinion on their blog as well. For my part, I think the feedback form is working well. I've used the same format for each one: some general rubrics that spell out different criteria for each writing task, and a feedback form giving general comments, what they did well, and what they can work on. So far there have been no formal complaints and I notice they all read what I write and go through the corrections I make. I plan to get some more formal feedback from them next week about how they feel about what I write. I must say that the great majority of them do very good work and seem to capture the essence of each writing task well.

There are a few exceptions; they are some people who came directly to this advanced group from the placement exam, and as time goes on I see more and more that they are definitely not anywhere near an advanced level; they are struggling to write anything that resembles English and not simply direct translations of Spanish. It is difficult and slow for me to grade them as they use a lot of false cognates, have problems with word order, create new English words etc. I spoke to one of these students on Tuesday and she is feeling quite discouraged because, even though she has received fairly good grades (based on the criteria for each task) up till the essay, she knows (and I know) that she doesn't have the bases to write well in English yet, at the standard appropriate for advanced English. She may even drop out of the course. There is at least one other student who is in a similar position. I think the students' feedback for me will be very helpful to see if I'm on the right track with what I tell them or not.

We've also done a lot more work on transfer-type errors, common spelling mistakes, false cognates etc. I've also tried to be a lot more systematic in teaching of word order in sentences: the subject - verb - object order, subordinate clauses, etc. My intention is to continue raising consciousness about grammar, spelling and vocabulary, perhaps more aggressively than in past classes, because I want to see if by the end of the semester this consciousness-raising and direct feedback of "I understand, but I don't like it", so long as it is in the context of giving constructive criticism and affirmation of what they did well, can actually make a difference to the students' writing.

I've given the same set of spelling words three times during these weeks; and still only less than half (about a third) of the students get them all correct. Some of them are the same words each time; others are simple slips, it would seem. I'd like to see a whole lot more get them all right soon! I also did another inductive spelling rules activity with them last Tuesday; and after finishing "understanding" all the rules, I tested them on a selection of words that they had just finished seeing. Not one person got all the words correct. Granted, one of the words was "consciousness", and their problem was more with "conscious" than with the "ness". Still, two students misspelled "mindless".

I should add that I am really enjoying this semester. This group is extremely responsive; quick to work; friendly and open and fun. I like that they ALL stated that they value peer feedback. This type of class motivates me to help them more and more!