Mismatched expectation: lessons learned from university student engagement behaviours with an instructor’s feedback in Korea

Authors

• Hye-Sook Park, Yonsei University
• Seokmin Kang, The University of Texas Rio Grande ValleyFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

9-2026

Abstract

This 6-week action research investigated the effect of the frequency and promptness of a university instructor’s feedback on students’ assignments in Korea. Three groups of sophomores pursuing their teacher certificates participated in the study. Students in two classes/sections (Groups 1 and 2) were Education majors, while the third (Group 3) majored in diverse disciplines other than education. The students in Group 1 had twice as many assigned reflection notes (eight times) and therefore more frequent feedback. The students in Group 2 submitted reflection notes less frequently (four times), despite receiving feedback as a prompt. The students in Group 3 also participated in reflection note-taking four times, but posted their assignments online and received delayed feedback. Both Group 1 and Group 2 demonstrated lower learning outcomes compared to Group 3. However, Group 1 showed higher affective scores than Group 2 in learning engagement. Suggestions are made to enhance students’ active participation in utilising feedback.

Comments

Original published version available at https://doi.org/10.1080/03055698.2025.2573312

Recommended Citation

Park, H. S., & Kang, S. (2026). Mismatched expectation: lessons learned from university student engagement behaviours with an instructor’s feedback in Korea. Educational Studies, 52(5), 790-809. https://doi.org/10.1080/03055698.2025.2573312

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.

Publication Title

Educational Studies

DOI

10.1080/03055698.2025.2573312