The effects of feedback, given by mathematics teachers to errors, on students' self-esteem

In this research, it was aimed to reveal the effects of feedback types on students' self-esteem. To achieve this aim, the effects of feedback types on particular dimensions of self-esteem such as academic, social and general were investigated. Phenomenological research design was employed for carrying out this research study. The sample consisted of 7 students selected via purposive sampling from 172 ninth-grade high school students enrolled to a state high school in Ankara during the fall and spring terms of 2010-2011 academic year. The data of this study were gathered using by Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory (CSEI), observation, interview and written documents. We use the descriptive analysis and QSR NVivo.10 software to analyze the gathered data. According to the findings of this study, students' errors and mistakes are indispensable part of the learning process and feedbacks have important effects on students' self-esteem. Some types of feedback such as "scolding (student)", "let (another student) to speak", "ignoring (student error)" and some types of feedback such as "giving some clues", "simplifying" affect students? self-esteem positively. However, some types of them such as "saying it is wrong", "saying correct answer", "create conflict" and "asking altered questions" have both positive and negative effects on students? self-esteem. Although it was out of the scope of the research problem, it was observed that the majority of mathematics teachers who were involved in the study were not deliberate about their choices of types of feedback and they did not have a specific strategy in giving feedback. Finally, some suggestions were made to teachers, prospective mathematics teachers and researchers in the light of the findings of the study. Key Words: Students' errors, feedback types, self-esteem, self confidence