How Do Students of Diverse Achievement Levels Benefit from Peer Assessment?

Abstract

Abstract Although the potential of peer assessment activities in promoting student learning and fostering student cognitive development has been widely studied and well documented across the world, it is unclear how peer assessment may benefit students of diverse achievement levels. This study examined this issue via a mixed methodology approach that combined students’ project scores and survey responses with a qualitative interview technique. Findings of this study suggested that peer assessment activities employed in this study had a differentiated impact on students’ learning and perceptions. Students in early learning development stages showed more learning gains than high achieving students in terms of point increase in their grades. Nevertheless, students across diverse achievement levels generally held positive attitudes towards their peer assessment experience. Key Words : peer assessment; collaborative learning; formative assessment; peer interaction Background Peer assessment is the process of students evaluating the work of peers using applicable marking criteria (Falchikov, 2001). Peer assessment activities can be categorized as either formative or summative. Formative peer assessment aims to cultivate student learning and usually involves students in reviewing peers’ work, with the purpose of assisting peers in further developing their projects. In such a process, students play both roles of assessors (rating and commenting upon peers’ work) and assessees (viewing and acting upon feedback). On the other hand, summative peer assessment emphasizes accountability. In summative peer assessment, students play only the assessor’s role by judging the quality of peers’ work and assigning quantitative marks or grades (Topping, Smith, Swanson & Elliot, 2000; Xiao & Lucking, 2008). Peer assessment, both formative and summative, may foster student cognitive development and active learning in various ways. Multiple potential benefits have been reported from previous studies: enhanced learning outcomes (e.g., Li & Steckelberg, 2005; Pope, 2001), deeper understanding of quality performance (Falchikov, 1995; Dochy, Segers, & Sluijsmans, 1999; Partri, 2002), increased sense of autonomy and motivation (Brown, 2004; Hiltz & Wellman, 1997; Pope, 2001), adequate and timely feedback (Gibbs, 1999), and enhanced sense of responsibility (Somervell, 1993). Cheng and Warren (1999) further portray peer assessment strategies as a reflection on “what learning has taken place and how” (p. 301). Topping (1998), based on an extensive review of 109 peer assessment studies conducted across the world, summarizes that the peer assessment process benefits both assessors and assessees in multiple ways, such as increased time on task, focused attention on critical elements of quality work, and greater sense of accountability and responsibility. Furthermore, he posits that these cognitive gains “might accrue before,