Abstract
The case study presented in this paper investigates the roles that the Moodle workshop activity module and peer feedback screencast training have on the development of formative peer feedback practices in low level English academic writing classes. The development of 26 first-year Japanese students’ peer feedback practices were tracked over 6 separate feedback sessions. The findings indicate that without training, students produced vague and unhelpful peer feedback. However, the intuitive structure of the Moodle workshop module and screencast feedback training sessions helped develop the skills necessary to offer critically evaluative feedback that proved useful for essay revision. Further findings show that although students were initially reluctant to offer feedback written in English, their use of the target language increased with adequate practice. Finally, student perceptions of their own abilities point to a highly significant relationship between screencast feedback training and improvement in peer feedback practices. These results suggest that the combination of the Moodle workshop activity module and feedback training screencasts facilitate effective peer feedback practices even in low level L2 academic writing courses.
Highlights
In university level academic writing classes, providing teacher-centered written corrective feedback can take up an enormous amount of time and effort
As an alternative to relying solely on teacher feedback, some researchers have pointed to the effectiveness of incorporating peer feedback into various stages of the writing process (Zamel, 1985; Long & Porter, 1985). l2 acquisition researchers have found that peer feedback practices lend support to the notion that l2 development is facilitated through interaction (Ellis, 1991; Liu & Hansen, 2002; Mangelsdorf, 1989)
In order to ascertain the extent to which low proficiency English language learners can produce, understand, and apply formative peer feedback focused on content, three research questions were proposed: 1. How do peer feedback practices differ before and after students receive peer feedback screencast training? 2
Summary
In university level academic writing classes, providing teacher-centered written corrective feedback can take up an enormous amount of time and effort. The effectiveness of this type of feedback to improve student compositions has been widely debated by l2 researchers (Conrad & Goldstein, 1999; Hyland & Hyland, 2001; Truscott, 1996, 1999). This large investment in time and energy is only exacerbated in process-oriented writing classes where students may submit multiple drafts of each written assignment. Researchers have found that peer assessment activities increase interpersonal relationships and foster a sense of classroom community (Hirvela, 1990; Liu & Hansen, 2002; Sluijsmans, Brand-Gruwel, & van Merrienboer, 2002)
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