For the student, audio commentary presents a space where feedback is more substantial than it is when it is encountered in the margins of an essay. Interpretation of commentary becomes less complicated not only because of the increased detail, but also because the information is received through the spoken word, complete with emotion and enthusiasm inherent in tone of voice, and without the need to translate incomprehensible handwriting. Unlike the student-professor conference, audio comments can be listened to (again and again) at the student’s convenience; while it is certainly possible to tape record a student conference, making that conference one the student can revisit at will, the presence of a recorder in the midst of a conference could increase anxiety on the part of the student, inhibiting communication in ways it might not otherwise be inhibited.

Finally, audio comments on student writing can be listened to in a “safe place”: the comfort of a student’s home, for instance, thereby removing the student from the sometimes intimidating space of the face-to-face, in-office conference.