Jesse D. Garrett
August 2, 2015
ACT IT OUT!
Positive Critical Feedback Guide: Do’s and Don’ts
Why do we need
critical feedback?
“Critics only make you
stronger. You have to look at
what they are saying as
feedback. Sometimes the
feedback helps, and other
times, its just noise that can be
a distraction.” Robert Kiyosaki
Good public speakers need to
know how their presentations
are being received by their
audience. They need to know
how to make their messages
clearer, how to build on the
academic language they are
using, how their body
language is being interpreted,
and how their overall delivery
can be improved. Since we
often cannot watch ourselves
presenting, the only way to get
critical feedback is from you
the audience member.
Key Terms
Critique; Feedback; Delivery;
Gesturing; Intonation;
Prosody; Volume; Attention
Getting Devices (AGDs);
Figurative Expressions;
Enunciation; Posture; Rhetoric
Positive Critical Feedback Guide
Feedback Do’s
Do use sentence starters when providing feedback like:
- “Your message was powerful…”
- “Your evidence was precise and enhanced your argument by…”
- “How else do you think you could have improved your…(select a
delivery area like eye contact)”
Do use feedback that is descriptive and specific:
-Telling someone that they did a “great job” does not help them
improve as a speaker. Specifically describe the things that they
did well in their presentations (e.g. “Your volume was perfect, I
could hear you all the way in the back of the room.”
Do use “I” when providing feedback:
- “I felt more engaged when you looked me directly in the eye and
said…”
Do provide reinforcing feedback, alongside corrective feedback:
- “Your AGD about dogs and cats got the audience laughing and
excited. It might make more sense for your speech though if you
used a rhetorical question to open your presentation.”
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Jesse D. Garrett
August 2, 2015
Feedback Dont’s
Don’t give futile feedback:
College & Career
Readiness Anchor
Standards for Speaking
and Listening
Comprehension and
Collaboration
• Evaluate a speaker’s point of
view, reasoning, and use of
evidence and rhetoric.
Presentation of Knowledge and
Ideas
• Adapt speech to a variety of
contexts and communicative
tasks, demonstrating command
of formal English when
indicated or appropriate.
- Make sure that your comments can actually help the speaker
improve and aren’t trite or repetitive (e.g. Don’t tell a speaker “I
like the way that your hair looks when you speak.”)
Don’t focus on the actor, focus on the action:
- Don’t criticize a speaker on aspects of their behavior that they
may not be able to control (e.g. “Don’t stutter so much when you
speak.” Relate to the speaker how their behavior affected the
audience (e.g. “By furrowing your eyebrow and shouting, I think
you made everyone uncomfortable with your hostility.”)
Don’t press forward with your feedback if the speaker appears
agitated or irritated by your comments:
-If the speaker seems to be getting overly defensive or angry by
your comments, “Back Off ” and try listening to their responses to
your feedback. Trust and confidence may be lost if your feedback
is perceived as “negative,” “overly critical,” or “rude.”
* (http://www.upstate.edu/com/document/giving_feedback-dosand-donts.pdf)
College & Career
Readiness Anchor
Standards for Language
Conventions of Standard English
• Demonstrate understanding of
figurative language, word
relationships, and nuances in
word meanings.
Vocabulary Acquisition and Use
• Acquire and use accurately a
range of general academic and
domain-specific words and
phrases sufficient for reading,
writing, speaking, and listening
at the college- and careerreadiness level…
Positive Critical Feedback Guide
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