FAA Fundamentals of Instructing (FOI)Human Behavior and Effective CommunicationHard
A flight instructor waits three weeks after a student's cross-country solo flight to provide detailed feedback on the student's radio phraseology errors made during that flight. By the time the feedback is given, the student has little recollection of the specific radio calls in question and struggles to connect the feedback to his actual performance. Which principle of effective feedback did the instructor fail to apply?
- AFeedback should be immediate
- BFeedback should be specific
- CFeedback should focus on behavior
- DFeedback should be constructive
Show answer & explanationAnswer & explanation
Correct answer: A. Feedback should be immediate
Effective feedback should be given as soon as possible after the performance being evaluated so the learner can clearly connect the feedback to the specific actions taken. By waiting three weeks, the instructor undermined the value of the feedback because the student could no longer clearly recall the events being discussed.
Why the other options are wrong
- B. The problem in this scenario is timing, not the level of detail or specificity of the feedback itself.
- C. Focusing on behavior is a separate principle about content, not the delay in delivering the feedback.
- D. There is no indication the feedback was harsh or unhelpful in tone, so constructiveness is not the issue.
Immediacy of Feedback
An effective feedback principle stating that feedback should be given as soon as possible after performance so the learner can clearly relate it to specific actions.
- Delayed feedback reduces the learner's ability to connect comments to specific behavior
- Immediate feedback reinforces correct learning and corrects errors before they become habits
- One of several qualities of effective feedback, along with being specific, constructive, and focused on behavior
Memory trick: 'Strike while it's fresh' - feedback loses value the longer it is delayed.