‘Who expresses an honest opinion as it stands in Japan?’: cultural issues and Japanese L2 students’ experiences of face-to-face and anonymous peer review

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study explores Japanese students’ perceptions of and experiences with peer review in English writing classes. While the benefits of peer review for second language (L2) students are generally acknowledged, some studies have claimed that students from Asian cultures are predisposed to not benefit fully from this process because they tend to refuse to provide negative feedback to maintain group harmony. To verify these observations and extend our understanding of the complex dynamics of peer interactions, this study analyzed data collected from 57 Japanese L2 students after both face-to-face and anonymous peer review. An analysis of the survey data did not support the conventional view concerning sociocultural influences on peer interaction. Instead, it indicated that the participants appreciated the verbal communication component of the face-to-face peer review but overall were indifferent toward the review mode. The interview data also showed that the participants mitigated rather than refrained from providing negative feedback regardless of the peer review mode. The findings suggest that Asian L2 students’ reticence in peer group interactions might be partly attributable to the discrepancy between their pragmatic need to mitigate negative feedback (as expected and practiced in their cultures) and their L2 proficiency to achieve such results.