Pushing the boundaries: Encouraging reflective
learning using a draft-writing and feedback
cycle in report-writing assessment

A conventional assessment used in many undergraduate science disciplines is a practical report. Unfortunately, second-year Science students studying Physiology at the University of Sydney experience some difficulty in writing their reports. These difficulties are not exclusive to students writing in their second language and appropriate and timely feedback on writing benefits all students. Providing feedback is an integral part of the teaching leaning cycle and facilitates good writing skills that can be used to improve subsequent assignments. Providing feedback which addresses not only to literacy but also to content area may also enhance students' understanding and interpretation of the practical and lecture content as well as their writing skills. However providing formative feedback to students during the writing phase is a time-consuming and labour intensive task from the teaching point of view and how students use this feedback in their final report is also unclear.

This project aimed to develop an instrument to facilitate the feedback process for markers and provide useful information for reflection by students for writing their final report. A control group did not receive feedback via the instrument although they could consult with teachers and fellow students. The outcomes suggest that the majority of students in the experimental group appreciated the instrument, in particular, citing an increased awareness of their problem areas and increased confidence in report writing. This group also achieved, on average, higher scores in their final report than the controls and the difference was statistically significant for non-English speaking background students.