STUDENTS‟ ATTITUDES TOWARDS RECEIVING PEER FEEDBACK

Abstract

As an alternative assessment tool, peer assessment plays a crucial role in the teaching/ learning context. However, researches have observed that the students have different perspectives towards receiving peer feedback. Hence, the aim of this study was to investigate the students’ attitudes towards receiving peer feedback. Though, peer assessment is a popular and widely used in different fields of education, peer assessment is still a new concept in the context where this study has been carried out. The sample of this study consisted of 45 science students who were studying technology in a higher educational institute. The students received peer feedback for the oral presentations they made. A five-point Likert scale questionnaire comprising 15 statements was used as the research instruments of this study. The overall findings illustrated that the informants had positive attitudes towards the peer assessment process as 88.6% shared the opinion that peer assessment had helped them to improve their presentation skills. Also, 60% of the sample shared the opinion that the scores given by peers were fair and reasonable and it was significant to find out that 60% of the participants shared the opinion that they were not nervous about the peer assessment process irrespective of the fact that they were exposed to peer assessment for the first time. However, 55.8% of the sample shared the opinion that they preferred to receive grade from the teacher than from the peer. It is expected that the findings of the study will contribute to the teaching and learning context of Sri Lanka.