An Investigation into Effectiveness of Peer Feedback

Copious researches argue the effectiveness of peer-correction in writing courses (e.g., Connor & Asenavage, 1994). Also, Coit (2004) mentions using peer feedback for correcting articles through a student-centered environment is a beneficial pedagogy to extend learners’ academic-style writing practice. Therefore, this study focused on investigating effectiveness of peer feedback from communal, cognitive, cooperative and pedagogical perspectives. This study also argues that it is English writing teachers ’ obligation and responsibility that they should ensure their writing learners compose articles in an atmosphere where they can learn from their peers cooperatively. According to Coit (2004), “Based on theories in collaborative learning and social cognitive development, peer review has assumed an important role in both L1 and L2 writing classrooms. ” (p. 902) When students are authorized to take on the role of the editor for their peer’s papers to carry out the correction process, they seem to be more confident and motivation-stimulated in their writing courses. In order to achieve this significant goal of releasing students ’ anxiety and raising their confidence in their writings, this study associated with peer correction was conducted and demonstrated at a required writing course assigned by the Department of Foreign Languages and Literature, a National University in Taiwan, Republic of China. During eight weeks of writing training and peer feedback activities, seven volunteers out of sixteen 16 English majors provided their feelings of the selected pedagogies in their advanced writing course in three credits. The results of this study revealed that most participants believed that peer feedback positively assisted their learning in English writing