Teacher modeling on EFL reviewers’ audience-aware feedback and affectivity in L2 peer review

Abstract

Abstract This exploratory classroom research investigated how prolonged one-to-one teacher modeling (the teacher demonstrating desirable behaviors as a reviewer) in feedback to student reviewers’ essays may enhance their audience-aware feedback and affectivity in peer review. Twenty-seven EFL Taiwanese college students from a writing class participated in asynchronous web-based peer reviews. Training was conducted prior to peer reviews, and the teacher modeled the desirable reviewer behaviors in her feedback to student reviewers’ essays to prolong the training effects. Pre-modeling (narration) and post-modeling (process) reviews were analyzed for audience-aware feedback and affectivity. Reviewers’ audience awareness was operationalized as their understanding of reviewer–reviewee/peer–peer relationship and reviewees’ needs of revision-oriented feedback on global writing issues to improve the draft quality. Paired t-tests revealed significantly higher percentages of global feedback and collaborative stance (revision-oriented suggestions), more socio-affective functions, and a higher percentage of personal, non-evaluative reader feedback and a lower percentage of non-personal evaluator feedback in the post-modeling reviews. Such a difference, however, was not found in review tone. Overall, our findings confirm that EFL student reviewers can learn peer review skills through observation of their teachers and use of complementary tools such as checklists.