van Heerden, Martina2023-06-052023-06-052020van Heerden, M. (2020). �It has a purpose beyond justifying a mark�: Examining the alignment between the purpose and practice of feedback. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 45(3), 359�371. https://doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2019.16446021469-297Xhttps://doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2019.1644602https://hdl.handle.net/10566/9003Research has shown that written feedback is important for studentlearning and development. However, the messages embedded in feed-back may lead to students being misled about what they need to learnor how they need to develop. This article reports on a small-scale inves-tigation into the messages embedded in feedback. Legitimation CodeTheory was used to first conceptualise the often-hidden purpose of adiscipline (English Studies), and concomitantly of feedback within thediscipline, and second to analyse actual comments given to first-yearstudents on their assignments. It was found that there is a clear mis-alignment between the purpose and practice of feedback, thereby sug-gesting that students are receiving misleading messages about whatthey need for success within the discipline. This may have implicationsbeyond merely passing the module. A suggestion is made to activelyconsider, and develop, feedback as a discipline-specific literacy.enEnglish studiesTeaching and LearningStudent writersWriting skillsCreative writingArticle