Cambly Pro students are looking for feedback to guide their learning journey. You and your students can determine the direction and frequency of this feedback during your kickoff conversation and subsequent check-ins. This document aims to provide some general tips for giving helpful feedback to language learners.
Consider giving feedback that is…
Easy to take in: Keep it simple and clear. Focus on one or two points, use everyday language the learner understands, and type it in chat so they can translate it where needed. Avoid overwhelming or technical explanations.
❌ “I noticed that you made some errors with irregular verbs, subject-verb agreement, articles, and a few inflectional morphemes were misapplied due to overgeneralization.”
✅ “I suggest we practice irregular verbs like “bring” and “keep” next time.”
Concrete and doable: Offer suggestions the learner can act on right away and make the next step clear. What should they try, practice, or do differently?
❌ “Your vocabulary could use improvement.”
✅ “You could benefit from an increased vocabulary. Reading is a great way to improve your vocabulary, and we can work on that together in your next lesson.”
Personal and specific: Base your feedback on what the learner just did. Connect it to their goals when you can. Avoid one-size-fits-all advice.
❌ “You should work on grammar.”
✅ “You used the wrong preposition a few times. Do you want to practice using ‘in’ and ‘on’ to talk about your work schedule?”
Encouraging and positive: Point out progress, even small wins, and build on the learner’s strengths. Let them know what’s going well before diving into what needs work.
❌ “I can tell you’re still having a hard time pronouncing /r/.”
✅ “Your pronunciation has really improved overall! I’m noticing /r/ might still be a bit tricky for you, so we can keep working on that if you’d like.”
A quick note about balance: Encouragement is important, but students also value constructive input that helps them improve. If feedback is only ever praise like “You’re doing great!”, students may start to feel like they’re not making real progress, even if they’re being told they’re doing well.
You can deliver your feedback orally, in the chat box, via the feedback form in the classroom, through messages after class, or using the Pro feedback tool. You might consider keeping track of your feedback through the notes section as well so you can help highlight the student’s progress as you work on the areas of improvement you identify in your feedback.