Teacher Feedback and Students' Prediction of Their Performance: Exploring the Relationship in Secondary Education

Abstract

Feedback is a crucial component of educational practice because it informs students about their progress and enhances their ability to accurately predict their performance through self-regulation and metacognitive awareness. For feedback to be effective, it must be provided promptly, clearly, and include specific suggestions for improvement. This literature review, conducted according to the PRISMA 2020 methodology guidelines, analyzes 14 empirical studies from the decade 2015-2025 to investigate the impact of teacher feedback on secondary school students' ability to accurately predict their performance. The findings indicate that feedback significantly improves students' accuracy in predicting their performance, particularly when it is clear, timely, and personalized. This process strengthens their metacognitive skills and self-regulatory abilities. Individual and cognitive factors, along with self-assessment processes, play a vital role in reducing performance overestimations, especially among low-achieving students, leading them to make more realistic and accurate predictions. Additionally, socio-emotional and school-related factors enhance students' engagement in the learning process and their openness to feedback. The integration of technology and collaboration between schools and families further supports the development of student autonomy and motivation. Conversely, environmental and cultural factors—such as socioeconomic and linguistic backgrounds—affect the effectiveness of feedback and the accuracy of performance predictions. Finally, the findings emphasize the advantages of self-assessment over traditional feedback methods and highlight the necessity of incorporating digital tools to aid in making more accurate performance predictions in secondary education.