MARY DAVIS, LIJUN TANG, RAWAN ALBAQAMI, TSILAZAZI ITWI

OXFORD BROOKES INTERNATIONAL

Peer review in the formative stage of writing

Benefits Possible problems

Greater student participation and responsibility for learning (Hyland, 2000)

Platform for collaborative dialogue between students (Rollinson, 2005)

Prefer responses to their work to come from tutors (Jacobs et al, 1998)

Only pay attention to feedback when it comes from teachers (Mustafa, 2012)

Studies of peer review

Method

PETAL project on Pre-Master’s programmePeer review strategy for each modulePre-activity, activity and post-activityExample from academic writing module

Pre-activity

What is a peer review?What are the advantages and disadvantages

of peer review?How does peer reviewing help with first

drafts?How can you be a good peer reviewer?

Activity

1. First impressionsDoes it seem well organised, with clear paragraphing?

2. IntroductionDoes it present the topic clearly? Does it define key terms?

 3. Review of the literature Is there a good range of citation? Is there a clear research gap?

4. Main body/ discussion of topic researchDoes it follow logically from the literature review? Are the

main points clear?ConclusionsDoes the conclusion link back to the research questions? Does

it offer a clear summary of the overall scope of the essay?

Post-activity

Peer reviewee: what did you learn from this experience? Which advice do you think was useful?

Peer reviewer: what did you learn from this experience? Which advice do you think was useful?

Student experiences of peer review- Lijun

ChinaAnswers only from teachersStudents do not listen to other studentsStudents do not share answersUKAnswers from lots of sourcesStudents may have better answers than teachersAs reviewer, may not be confident to give feedbackAs reviewee, may still be worried about the

teacher’s feedback

Student experiences of peer review- Rawan

Saudi ArabiaStudents think the right answer comes only from

teacherStudents share answers but don’t base best

answers on each other’s workStudents don’t like to show mistakes to other

studentsUKLike sharing answers and find peer review

interestingAs reviewer, feel stress about giving the right

answer, not expert, feel responsibility to give review as it may affect reviewee’s mark

As reviewee, happy with other students’ feedback (though it could be wrong)

Student experiences of peer review- Tsila

ZambiaTeachers tell students if right or wrong, but give

no guidance why or howStudents who are friends share information, others

do not share anythingUKStudents work together and get more feedbackAs reviewer, feel it is a privilege to give feedback,

but worry that it may be wrong As reviewee, feel less confident in work, and think

not as good as others

Conclusion

It may add value to peer review to build pre- and post-activities around it

Student approaches to peer review may be influenced by different cultural/educational experiences

Peer reviewers worry that their feedback is not good enough or may lead the reviewee to problems

Peer reviewees mostly feel satisfied with the experience of receiving feedback from other students, but may have doubts about it.

Questions

What experiences of peer review have you had?

As a peer reviewer and a peer reviewee, what have you found to be the benefits and problems?

Do you think cultural differences need to be addressed in peer review?

How can we improve the experience of peer review?

References

Hyland, F. (2000).ESL writers and feedback: giving more autonomy to students. Language Teaching Research, 4(1), 33-54

Jacobs, G., Curtis, A., Briane, G. and Huang, S. (1998). Feedback on student writing: Taking the middle path. Journal of Second Language Writing, 7(3), 307-317

Mustafa, R.F. (2012). Feedback on the feedback: Sociocultural interpretation of Saudi ESL learners’ opinions about writing feedback. English Language Teaching, 5(3), 3-15

Rollinson, P. (2005). Using peer feedback in the ESL writing class. ELT Journal, 59(1), 23-30