Teacher Educators' Knowledge and Use of Feedback in Tertiary Institutions in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria

The study investigated English Language Teacher Educators’ knowledge of feedback as well as the type and quality of feedback they use in teaching and learning. It also examined how they incorporate technology in feedback practice and whether feedback could promote teaching and learning. A purposive sampling technique was used in selecting the two teacher training institutions in the state while a random sampling technique was used in selecting 250 respondents (50 teacher educators and 200 teacher trainees) from the University of Uyo and College of Education, AfahaNsit, AkwaIbom State. Four research questions guided the study while four null hypotheses were tested. Two sets of researcher- made and validated questionnaires were used in collecting data for the study. Mean statistic was used in answering the research questions while t-test was used in testing the null hypotheses at .05 alpha level of significance. The result of the study revealed that teacher educators’ do not have a clear knowledge of what constitutes feedback. While they claim to use different modes and good quality feedback, their teacher trainees disagreed with their claims. Again technology was found to play no role in their feedback practice. Teacher educators acknowledged that effective feedback practice can result in the attainment of teaching/ learning goals. Among the recommendations made was the need for teacher educators to be given orientation through workshops on what constitutes feedback and how they can use it as an innovation in teaching and learning to achieve the curricular goals of teacher education for the country.