Abstract
One of the issues affecting the efficacy of peer revision in the writing classroom is that of the knowledge of peer reviewers. Do peer reviewers have sufficient knowledge of content and language to critique the works of their peer writers? Do they provide feedback on content as much as they do for language? Proponents of social constructivism posit that learners learn best when they are involved in exploring, discovering and transforming their ideas and those of their peers through interaction, negotiation and collaboration. In the writing classroom, student writers and reviewers are given the opportunity to build meaning based on their own experiences. This study examined the types of comments made by Malay ESL peer reviewers and their perceived usefulness towards improving peer writers’ composition. Comments on peer writing were collected from ten upper secondary school peer reviewers for equal number of peer writers through reviewer feedback form, peer conferencing session, reviewer field notes and writers’ multiple drafts. Findings of the study show that peer reviewers were able to provide revisions in both areas of content and language. Additionally, the strategies used to providing feedback on content included alteration and reordering, clarification and suggestion, as well as praise and criticism. Overall peer revision has a positive impact on writing and this has implications for teaching and learning, more so for teachers who are overburdened with marking.
Highlights
Peer revision is a crucial aspect of process writing
With the purpose of wanting a better understanding of how ESL peer reviewers help peer writers learn to write more effectively, this exploratory study was conducted to seek answers to the following research questions: Research Question 1: What are types of revisions provided by the peer reviewers in peer revision? Research Question 2: What is the impact of peer revision on peers’ writing?
The results of the study are presented in answer to the research questions as follows: Research Question 1: What are types of revisions provided by the peer reviewers in peer revision?
Summary
Peer revision is a crucial aspect of process writing. Peer revision has gained widespread acceptance in modern advanced writing classrooms as learning and assessment tool and is increasingly being experimented for its use as an interactive peer learning and assessment tool in online writing classes and technology-enhanced environments (Keppell et al 2006; Knight & Steinbach 2011). Peer revision is a process whereby learners evaluate one another’s work for better quality writing. Learners generally view it as a non-threatening activity as both reviewers and writers benefit from the feedback that their peers provide (Wood & Kurzel 2008). In the Vygotskyan social interaction framework, culture, peers and adults play important roles in influencing learners’ development. This influence, expressed as the Zone of Proximal Development, refers to the difference in a learner's performance when he attempts a problem on his own compared
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