Feedback as real-time constructions

This article offers a re-description of feedback and the significance of time in feedback constructions based on systems theory. It describes feedback as internal, real-time constructions in a learning system. From this perspective, feedback is neither immediate nor delayed, but occurs in the very moment it takes place. This article argues for a clear distinction between the timing of communicative events, such as responses that are provided as help for feedback constructions, and the feedback construction itself as an event in a psychic system. Although feedback is described as an internal, system-relative construction, different teaching environments offer diverse conditions for feedback constructions. The final section of this article explores this idea with the help of examples from both synchronous oral interaction and asynchronous text-based interaction mediated by digital media.