The Effect of Peer Feedback on Writing Anxiety in Turkish EFL (English as a Foreign Language) Students

Abstract

One of the researchers has been teaching writing and experiencing writing anxiety in her classes for three years, which has influenced her teaching writing, her students’ attitudes towards writing, and academic achievement in writing exams negatively. In order to deal with the issue, the researchers planned to use peer feedback in writing classes. Hence, the present study aimed to investigate the effects of peer feedback on Turkish EFL students’ writing anxiety and perceptions towards it. It was carried out with 16 students studying English in an English Language Preparation Department of a Turkish university. It lasted 8 weeks. It adopted mixed methods research design. To collect data, researcher’ diary, two interviews and Second Language Writing Anxiety Inventory (SLWAI) by Cheng were used. SLWAI was used as pre- and post-test. The interviews were made in the end. It was content analysed. The diary was narrated. SLWAI results were analysed through descriptive statistics and paired samples t-test. The content analysis of the interviews and narration of the diary results showed that the students formed positive perceptions towards writing. Also, the results indicated that the students believed using peer feedback in writing classes decreased their writing anxiety, increased their confidence, and improved their writing by collaborating with and learning from each other. The quantitative results of the study indicated that the use of peer feedback in writing classes reduced their writing anxiety in terms of cognitive, somatic, and avoidance anxiety.