News in Science

Pen colour affects teacher-student relations

Seeing red Red pens are making students feel blue, according to a US study that recommends teachers refrain from using the colour when marking.

In a paper published in The Social Science Journal, sociology professor Richard Dukes and associate professor Heather Albanesi, at the University of Colorado, show the use of a red pen in marking has a negative impact on student relations with their teacher.

Dukes says while the findings are of moderate strength, they are statistically significant.

"They are like a gentle rain - not life-changing, but it is raining," he says.

For the study, the researchers randomly gave 199 participating undergraduate students one of four versions of an essay answer and mark by a hypothetical student named Pat.

The four versions included a high-quality response and a lesser-quality answer with comments from the teacher in either red or aqua.

The students were asked to rate whether they agreed with the teacher's grading, what grading they would give the paper and to rate various qualities of the teacher based on the essay comments including whether the teacher was: knowledgeable, organised, nice, enthusiastic and had a rapport with students.

Student participants were also asked to fill out a questionnaire at the end on the materials they had been given.

Teacher's 'bedside manner'

Dukes says the findings show that students' perceptions about the quality of learning are not affected by the use of the red pen.

However teacher-student relations are affected with comments written in aqua resulting in the teacher rating higher in their "bedside manner".

"When the student learns well (actually, performs well) and receives a high grade, the situation is a "win-win" (teacher and student are feeling good about the process)," says Dukes.

"However, when the student does not perform well, at least some of the blame is put upon the teacher."

Loaded with emotion

He says it appears the use of a red pen equates in the student's mind to shouting in the same way as writing in all capitals.

Writing in the colour red is therefore loaded with emotion, the researchers say.

This additional emotional loading of messages on the grading of student assignments may not be a tactic that teachers should use to convey constructive, critical comments to students, the researchers say.

Dukes says a change in marking pen colour can "generate worthwhile results by facilitating teacher-student interaction, and can do so without affecting rigour in the delivery of the curriculum".

"If red writing on a student's paper adds emotional loading that the teacher does not intend to be part of the content of the communication with the student, the rethinking of the choice of pen colour is worthwhile," the researchers conclude.

Dukes says he is unaware of the history of why red was chosen as a marking colour, "but it does not seem to have been a particularly good one".

He says the findings against the use of a red pen would likely apply to other professions, "especially those where it often is not wise to shout".