Developing Student Feedback Literacy Through Peer Review Training

Abstract

Despite the recent interest in student feedback literacy, few studies have considered how students can be guided to develop this literacy in language learning. This article reports on a study that aims to develop student feedback literacy through a series of training activities. These activities were introduced to a cohort of students to explore their potential usefulness in helping students to give feedback. Four focal participants shared their experience and reflections, which suggest five components of feedback literacy: (1) appreciating the role of peer feedback; (2) knowing more about peer review; (3) being proactive in the feedback process; (4) learning from giving peer feedback; and (5) managing emotions related to peer feedback. These findings show that the undertaken activities have the potential to develop student feedback literacy. The study also suggests how students made use of cultural artifacts and social others through the activities, and initiated informal conversations outside classroom hours in order to provide more appropriate feedback. The five components of feedback literacy illustrated in this article can be drawn upon by language teachers to support and/or assess the development of their students’ feedback literacy.