Literature Review
Some educational theorists would be in support of the peer feedback process. For example, Vygotsky (2000) emphasizes learning through social interaction processes. This means that students develop understanding through collaboration with others. The procedure of providing feedback would incorporate communication among peers and encourage the development of a shared understanding of the writing process. Ammer (1998) also found that the peer feedback process helps students to develop social skills by learning to both give and receive honest and respectful feedback. Krashen’s theory of the affective filter (1985) would also support the use of peer feedback, as he argues that frequent teacher correction can hinder students’ confidence. Allowing students to look at each other’s work to provide feedback would therefore release student anxiety and allow them to constructively and appropriately receive critiques. Light (2003) found that peer assessment actually builds self-confidence in student writers.
Factors affecting feedback
One conditional factor that some researchers recognized, including McLeod, Brown, & Sledge (2009), in the effectiveness of peer feedback is the use of rubrics or other support instruments as a guide. They found that peer feedback can be as effective or even more effective than feedback from teachers, if students receive a reliable assessment instrument. Soles (2001) additionally found that, “Shared rubrics empower students, they urge students to become active participants in the writing process, and they substantiate the connections among teaching, learning, and assessment.” With this, it will be very important in this Action Research study to use rubrics or graphic organizers for students to effectively support their peers in feedback as well as to receive useful feedback.
Grabe & Kaplan (1996) found another benefit to the use of peer feedback, which was the fact that giving suggestions allows students to find similar problems in their own writing. This idea is supported by a study by Lundstrom & Baker (2009), which found that a student who focused on reviewing and giving feedback to peers’ writing made significantly more improvements in their own writing than a student who only focused on receiving feedback. This shows the potential for developing writing and editing skills to be a better self-reviewer by the act of looking critically at another’s work. Being able to examine writing and understand which aspects are written well and which need improvement has been seen to be an important piece in being a quality writer.
Grabe & Kaplan (1996) found another benefit to the use of peer feedback, which was the fact that giving suggestions allows students to find similar problems in their own writing. This idea is supported by a study by Lundstrom & Baker (2009), which found that a student who focused on reviewing and giving feedback to peers’ writing made significantly more improvements in their own writing than a student who only focused on receiving feedback. This shows the potential for developing writing and editing skills to be a better self-reviewer by the act of looking critically at another’s work. Being able to examine writing and understand which aspects are written well and which need improvement has been seen to be an important piece in being a quality writer.
Feelings toward feedback
In terms of students’ feelings towards peer feedback, Light (2003) found that peer feedback contributes to positive attitudes towards writing. A study looking at English learners and writing by Lin & Chien (2009) found that participants also had positive attitudes towards peer feedback and felt that it positively helped their learning of English writing.
Drawbacks to feedback
Some articles have found potential drawbacks to the peer feedback process. For example, McLeod et al. (2009) recognized that issues such as how to train students, how to form groups, the types of activities to use, and the methods to use are highly dependent on the unique needs of the students involved. Because there are so many choices and ways to utilize peer review, some find the process to be daunting for teachers and can be implemented ineffectively. This idea is also supported by the drawbacks recognized by Keh (1989), who noted that the process is often too difficult and teachers do not know how to utilize it effectively. Some also find that peer review is too time consuming or impractical (Keh, 1989).
Conclusion
These factors, including the researched advantages and the disadvantages of peer feedback, must be taken into consideration in this Action Research study. It has become clear through this review of existing research that it will be important to use a reliable assessment instrument, which contributes to my subquestion that looks at how a rubric will affect the peer feedback process. Additionally, this in-depth review has enhanced the focus of this particular study to look at the strengthened abilities of the writer through their skills developed from providing feedback. With this, the methods that are chosen have been carefully selected to train this specific group of students to provide strong feedback and ensure that the process is appropriate to their current capabilities and needs to ultimately strengthen their own writing abilities.