Online Peer Feedback Research Articles

How does the type of online peer feedback influence feedback quality, argumentative essay writing quality, and domain-specific learning?

ABSTRACT This study explored the effects of directed and undirected online peer feedback types on students’ peer feedback performance, argumentative essay writing skills, and acquisition of domain-specific knowledge. The study used a pre-test and post-test design with four conditions (feedback, feedforward, a combination of feedback and feedforward, and undirected feedback). In this exploratory study, 221 undergraduate students, who were randomly assigned to dyads, engaged in discussions about the pros and cons of “Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs)”, provided feedback to peers, and wrote an argumentative essay regarding the topic. Results indicated significant differences among the conditions in terms of the quality of provided feedback. This implies that the peer feedback quality can be enhanced or diminished depending on its type. Results also revealed a significant improvement in students’ argumentative essay performance and domain-specific knowledge acquisition without significant differences among conditions. We discuss how the such increase in the quality of essays and learning outcomes might be related to the power of peer feedback regardless of the feedback type. We also discuss why using multiple instructional scaffolds may result in over-scripting that may diminish the power of peer feedback and the effects of the scaffolds themselves in online learning environments.

Design, implementation, and evaluation of an online supported peer feedback module to enhance students’ argumentative essay quality

We know little to what extent peer feedback strategies can be applied on a large scale in higher education for complex tasks. This study aimed to design, implement, and evaluate an online-supported peer feedback module for large-scale use to enhance higher education students’ argumentative essay writing performance. To do this, 330 students from five different courses at bachelor and master levels followed the online supported peer feedback module. In this module, students were asked to write an argumentative essay about a controversial issue, provide peer feedback for two peers, and revise their original essays based on the received feedback. Three types of data including original essay (pre-test) data, peer feedback data, and revised essay (post-test) data collected. Students also filled out the learning satisfaction questionnaire at the end of the module. The findings showed that the suggested online-supported peer feedback module was effective in improving students’ argumentative essay quality in all courses at the bachelor and master levels. The findings also showed there is a difference in the level of students’ satisfaction with the module among the courses and between the education levels. The findings of this study provide insights into and add value to the scalability of online peer feedback tools for argumentative essay writing in different contexts. Based on the findings, recommendations for future studies and educational practice are provided.

Peer assessment of professionalism attributes

Peer assessment can support the development of professionalism by providing feedback that enables learners to reflect on their professional behavioural attributes. We developed and implemented an innovative online peer assessment and feedback tool. Students were encouraged to nominate 12 peer assessors to anonymously conduct their assessment. Assessors were presented with a list of 32 adjectives that described professional behavioural attributes within four domains (integrity, conscientiousness, agreeableness and resilience) and asked to rate the student by selecting a minimum of two adjectives in each domain and to provide free-text comments. The feedback was presented as a collated word cloud and free-text comments. All students had the opportunity to discuss their profiles with a staff member. Our mixed-methods evaluation found that all students participated, and they valued the peer assessment and feedback process. Although the assessment was formative and confidential, students were reluctant to provide negative comments about their peers. 'Disengaged', 'aloof' and 'argumentative' were the most likely negative adjectives that indicated students with low-level professionalism concerns. Future development will focus on introducing students who can act as peer champions for the process and repeating the peer assessment over time to identify the change in professionalism development.

How to Embed SRL in Online Learning Settings? Design Through Learning Analytics and Personalized Learning Design in Moodle

One of the main generic competencies in Higher Education is “Learning to Learn”. The key component of this competence is the capacity for self-regulated learning (SRL). For this competence to be developed, peer feedback seems useful because it fosters evaluative judgement. Following the principles of peer feedback processes, an online peer feedback proposal was created in the context of complex tasks in several degree courses (n = 448 students) at the University of Barcelona. A specific didactic sequence supported by digital technologies through Moodle was designed and validated after a deep analysis of the theoretical underpinnings of SRL models. A peer review proposal was ratified by the students, who pointed out the benefits of both receiving and, especially, giving feedback. The integration of Moodle tools with external tools such as Personalized Learning Design was highly valued by reviewers (n = 3 expert judges) and the possibilities for students to monitor their own progress through task completion was revealed as a positive aspect. Furthermore, the creation of personalized alerts to support learning processes also received a very high rating. The final model includes the changes derived from the validation process and suggests a reliable technology-supported intervention in an LMS, which is transferable to a larger scale.

The Effects of Online Peer Feedback on Students’ Writing Skills during Corona Virus Pandemic

The Effects of Online Peer Feedback on Students’ Writing Skills during Corona Virus Pandemic

Effect of Online Peer Feedback with Skypeon EFL Learners' Writing Skill in Vo Minh Duc High School

Effect of Online Peer Feedback with Skypeon EFL Learners' Writing Skill in Vo Minh Duc High School

STUDENTS' RESPONSES IN ONLINE PEER FEEDBACK IN EFL WRITING INSTRUCTION

As a supplementary of teacher’s feedback, peer feedback activity is believed can help the students improve their writing achievement. During and after the pandemic, teachers often applied online teaching for certain reasons, including in practicing peer feedback which can be done via different application. This study aims at investigating the types of comments appeared when the students conduct peer feedback in quip application. The study involved a class in which the teacher applied peer feedback via quip. This research is a descriptive quantitative in which the data was collected through documentation. The students’ responses were analyzed using types of comments proposed by Jun Liu and Hansen. The result of the study showed that the students made a lot of comments during online peer feedback activity. This study demonstrates that students are very active in giving comments during online peer feedback; however, it also underlines that the students still produced many local and non-revision comments.

A review of the ESL/EFL learners’ gains from online peer feedback on English writing

Peer feedback is essential in writing English as a Second/Foreign Language (ESL/EFL). Traditionally, offline PF was more widely favored but nowadays online peer feedback (OPF) has become frequent in ESL/EFL learners' daily writing. This study is undertaken to probe into the gains of using OPF in ESL/EFL writing on the basis of 37 research articles published in core journals from 2012 till 2022. In order to accurately cover the previous researches, we capitalize on three methods to evaluate and analyze the data, i.e., database search, citation search and manual search. Results show that from the perspective of the ESL/EFL learners' gains, the OPF is basically divided into two categories (cognitive OPF and affective OPF), involving eight aspects in all: face-based strategies, revision-based comments, writing performance, learning environment, reflection/critical thinking/responsibility, writing emotion, motivation, and attitudes; and OPF can be well supported by a set of theories like Process-oriented Writing Theory, Collaborative Learning Theory, Interactionist Theory of L2 Acquisition and Vygotsky's sociocultural theory. By comparison, the gains from OPF outperform those from offline PF in many dimensions (e.g., face-based strategies), despite some overlaps (e.g., the shift of the role) that were revealed in several investigations. Based on the past studies, we propose some pedagogical implications on OPF from ESL/EFL writing, including accenting the "student-centered" teaching strategy, providing students with OPF on the basis of incremental knowledge, adopting OPF regularly in ESL/EFL writing activities to shape personalities and outlooks and putting OPF into its full play with recourse to abundant internet-based vehicles. This review is desired to provide a guideline for both the peer feedback practice and the upcoming scholarly researches with respect to EFL/ESL writing.

The effects of group awareness tools on student engagement with peer feedback in online collaborative writing environments

ABSTRACT Although the potential of group awareness (GA) tools on triggering student engagement has been recognized in literature, little is known about the effects of GA tools on student engagement with peer feedback in the context of online collaborative language learning. This quasi-experimental study with 86 college students explored how GA tools influenced student engagement with peer feedback in an authentic learning environment. The results showed that GA tools had positive effects on students’ behavioral engagement. The analysis of dynamic engagement progression across three rounds of peer assessment revealed that GA tools helped stimulate and sustain students’ continuous cognitive engagement in providing both surface-level and meaning-level feedback. However, GA tools had limited effects on triggering cognitive engagement in incorporating peer feedback into revisions, especially at the late stage of the learning activity. Additionally, the students supported by GA tools demonstrated higher emotional engagement than those without access to GA information but the difference was not statistically significant. Findings of this study provide important insights on using GA tools to enhance student engagement with online peer feedback in collaborative language learning activities.

Learners' perceived advantages and social-affective dispositions toward online peer feedback in academic writing.

Peer feedback is widely acknowledged for its advantages and benefits in improving students’ learning in writing classes. Although the integration of online platforms has been found to impact peer feedback, research on second language learners’ perceived advantages of social affective disposition to using multiple platforms for delivering peer feedback is limited. To address the aforementioned research gap, we conducted this 12-week action research to explore how 12 doctoral students at a university in Macau perceived their experience of using multiple online feedbacks in an academic writing course. To integrate the various advantages of different online platforms, we adopted three tools including Moodle, Rain Classroom, and WeChat for the delivery of peer feedback. The results demonstrated learners’ perceived advantages and disadvantages of online peer feedback and how the different online peer feedback can be combined to magnify their benefits for academic writing. It also revealed that the use of emojis, memes, and one-to-one conversation window on WeChat can foster students’ positive emotions. However, the ubiquitous connection by WeChat Moments increased their emotional load and undermined peer trust.

ÜNİVERSİTE ÖĞRENCİLERİNİN AKRAN GERİ BİLDİRİMİ VERME DAVRANIŞLARININ SÜREÇ MADENCİLİĞİ İLE İNCELENMESİ

Akran geri bildirimi öğrencilere birçok yönden fayda sağlayabilir. Ancak bu faydalar, geri bildirim tek yönlü ele alındığında asgari miktarda gerçekleşmektedir. Geri bildirim öncesinde, süresince ve sonrasında diyalog ve öğrenciler arasında iş birliği sürdürülebilirse bu faydalar katlanabilir. Bu noktada geri bildirimi veren öğrencinin aktif katılımı önemlidir. Ancak, öğrencilerin akran geri bildirimi verme davranışları literatürde çok fazla ilgi görmemiştir ve diyalog merkezli iş birlikçi uygulamalarda ise hiç incelenmemiştir. Bu boşluktan yola çıkılarak yapılan bu çalışmada çevrimiçi gerçekleştirilen bir akran geri bildirimi etkinliğindeki öğrencilerin geri bildirim verme davranışları incelenmiştir. Bu etkinlik, iş birlikçi geri bildirim teorisi çerçevesinde tasarlanmış olan Sinerji platformunda gerçekleştirilmiştir ve öğrencilerin bu platformla olan etkileşimleri sonucunda oluşan veri bu çalışmada süreç madenciliği uygulanarak incelenmiştir. Elde edilen büyük verinin ön işlemesi iş birlikçi geri bildirim teorisi temel alınarak gerçekleştirilmiştir. Araştırma sonuçlarına göre, yüksek performans grubundaki öğrencilerin davranışları iş birlikçi geri bildirim teorisiyle ile uyumluyken, orta performanslı öğrencilerin davranışlarında teoriden önemli ölçüde sapmalar olmuştur. Öğrenci geri bildirim verme davranışına dair bulgular geri bildirim öncesinde öğrenciler arasındaki diyalog ve ortaklaşa planlamanın önemini göstermektedir. Ayrıca, bu çalışma öğrenme analitikleri alanında teori eksikliğine yönelik tartışmalara, öğrenme analitiklerini teorik bir temele oturtmanın faydalarını göstererek katkı sunmuştur. Çalışma sonunda önemli öneriler paylaşılmıştır.

Online Versus Offline Peer Feedback in Higher Education: A Meta-Analysis

In recent years, the technical possibilities of educational technologies regarding online peer feedback have developed rapidly. However, the impact of online peer feedback activities compared to traditional offline variants has not specifically been meta-analyzed. Therefore, the aim of the current meta-analysis is to do an in-depth comparison between online versus offline peer feedback approaches. An earlier and broader meta-analysis focusing on technology-facilitated peer feedback in general, was used as a starting point. We synthesized 12 comparisons between online and offline peer feedback in higher education, from 10 different studies. Moreover, we reviewed student perceptions of online peer feedback when these were included in the studies. The results show that online peer feedback is more effective than offline peer feedback, with an effect size of 0.33. Moreover, online peer feedback is more effective when the outcome measure is competence rather than self-efficacy for skills. In addition, students are mostly positive towards online peer feedback but also list several downsides. Finally, implications for online peer feedback in teaching practice are discussed and leads are identified for further research on this topic.

Investigating the effectiveness of anonymous online peer feedback in translation technology teaching

ABSTRACT Online peer feedback has been regarded as an effective way to promote collaborative learning in the teaching of translation technology. But there is limited research about decreasing the negative influence of social factors such as peer pressure, favouritism, and face-saving in the process. Therefore, the present study examined the effects of anonymous online peer feedback (AOPF) on students’ translation performance, feedback quality, self-efficacy and perceptions in translation technology teaching. A total of 60 Chinese postgraduate students from a translation technology training course participated in this study, and they were then randomly assigned into either the anonymous or identified group. Results indicated that AOPF was a practical approach to improving translation performance. The content analysis showed that the anonymous group provided more cognitive and metacognitive feedback messages in terms of feedback quality. In addition, students in the anonymous group felt more comfortable giving in-depth suggestions for peer work. However, there was no significant difference in affective feedback messages between the two groups. Furthermore, results from the questionnaires revealed that anonymity in online peer feedback could improve the students’ self-efficacy and learning satisfaction. These findings can give insights for trainers to facilitate practical peer assessment activities in translation technology training.

Introduction to the special issue Translation technology teaching: views and visions

ABSTRACT Since translation technology is playing an indispensable role in translation practice, how to teach translation technology has become one of the key topics in translation studies. This special issue focuses on views and visions of translation technology teaching (TTT), an increasingly important aspect of translation pedagogy. The first contribution is a bibliometric study of TTT publications both in English and Chinese, revealing the state of the art of TTT by presenting different research methods and focuses in different academic communities. Next, Sánchez Ramos demonstrates how machine translation and post-editing have been taught to improve the efficiency of public service interpreting and translation. Kodura describes an online course in translation technology on the basis of action research methodology. Lu Sha et al. examine the positive effects of anonymous online peer feedback in a computer-assisted translation (CAT) course. Finally, the last two empirical studies construct a Knowing-Acting Translation Curriculum (KATC) and a competence framework for interpreting technology, highlighting trainees’ technological competence. These six articles not only present ways to teach translation technology, but also underline the need of developing higher-order technological competence in the process of educating human translators with a global vision.

Online peer feedback patterns of success and failure in argumentative essay writing

ABSTRACT In peer feedback literature, little is known about the patterns of success for peer feedback activities in online learning environments. This study aims to explore the peer feedback patterns of successful, less successful, and unsuccessful higher education students for argumentative essay writing. In this exploratory study, 330 higher education students were asked to perform three tasks in three consecutive weeks. In the first week, they were asked to write an argumentative essay. In the second week, students provided two sets of feedback on their peers’ argumentative essays based on the given criteria. In the third week, students were asked to revise their argumentative essay based on the received feedback. The findings revealed that unsuccessful and less successful students significantly received more affective and descriptive feedback from their peers, while successful students received more feedback related to the identification of the problem from their peers. Furthermore, descriptive and constructive features of feedback were predictors of students’ success in the improvement of argumentative essay writing. The findings of this study provide practical implications for the effective design of peer feedback strategies for improving students’ argumentative essay writing in online learning environments.

Discourse Analysis of ESL Undergraduate Students’ Patterns of Interaction in an Online Peer Feedback Environment to Develop Writing Performance

Academic writing is challenging for English as a Second Language (ESL) undergraduate students. One of the teaching strategies that language instructors use in teaching academic writing is by using peer feedback. However, in the ESL setting, many research has indicated mixed findings on the use of peer feedback. To contribute to the discussion, this qualitative study investigated the patterns of interaction between ESL students in an online peer feedback environment. The data were collected from six ESL undergraduate students through discourse analysis of their online peer feedback written interaction and content analysis of their essays. The findings revealed that two patterns of interaction emerged which include the expert/novice and dominant/passive pattern. However, there were none to small improvements among the students in terms of their writing performance. Although one of the patterns is collaborative (i.e., expert/novice), the quality and quantity of their feedback were lacking thus resulting in lower revisions and improvements made. The study recommends further research on the quality and quantity of peer feedback to understand better the role of online peer feedback in ESL students’ academic writing.

The Pilot Study of Students’ English Writing Improvement through Online Peer Feedback during the Covid-19 Pandemic in the Southern Border Province of Thailand, Yala Rajabhat University

The pilot study aimed to investigate students’ English writing ability via online peer feedback during covid-19 pandemic. In this pilot study, eight open-ended questions, which were conducted to 12 undergraduate students majoring in English with mixed grades coming from 43 students in English writing class in one university in the three Southern border provinces of Thailand. The data analysis stage made use of qualitative data to conduct thematic analysis of the content. The results indicated that students took a positive view of using online peer feedback to support the development of their writing, since this feedback also upgraded their affective strategies and critical thinking skills as well as their ability to interact socially in an effective manner. The results indicate student perceptions concerning writing strategies and found that they believed that online peer feedback could be carried out effectively, leading to improvements in their writing through enhanced grammatical usage. Furthermore, peer feedback and discussions supported better critical thinking skills as well as improving social skills through the need to work cooperatively. Importantly, the pilot study is very beneficial to both instructor and students, especially the instructor can bring to adapt the main study more effectively. Therefore, the findings of online peer feedback ought to be taken into consideration in the main study group to adapt in learning and teaching process.

Effects of Translanguaging in Online Peer Feedback on Chinese University English-as-a-Foreign-Language Students’ Writing Performance

Peer feedback has long been recognized for its value in improving second language learning outcomes. However, limited attention has been given to the potential influence of translanguaging in the process of online peer feedback on learners’ second language writing performance. To fill the gap, we carried out this mixed-methods study to examine to what extent translanguaging in online peer feedback contributes to improvement in second language writing performance. A total of 79 Chinese English-as-a-foreign-language university students participated in 3 rounds of online peer feedback with a control group using only second language English ( n = 39) and an experimental group adopting translanguaging ( n = 40) in the process of online peer feedback. Six semi-structured interviews were also carried out to solicit participants’ understanding of online peer feedback. The quantitative results revealed that translanguaging online peer feedback, compared to English-only online peer feedback, was significantly more conducive to the improvement of learners’ second language writing performance in the first round of online peer feedback. However, such a significant difference was not observed in the second and third rounds of online peer feedback. The qualitative findings, on the other hand, showed that both conditions of online peer feedback were supported for their own advantages of improving learners’ second language writing. Additionally, the qualitative findings suggested that factors, such as motivation, agency, self-efficacy and translanguaging awareness, should be taken into consideration to enhance students’ translanguaging practice.

Peer feedback to support collaborative knowledge improvement: What kind of feedback feed-forward?

Online peer feedback plays a critical role in collaborative learning. This process improves learning and helps both giver and receiver develop and refine their metacognitive knowledge. A deeper examination of the feedback types, specificity, and affective nature is needed to understand its impact on collaborative knowledge improvement. A mixed-method study was conducted to examine how online peer feedback supported collaborative knowledge improvement in a computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) environment. How the different types of formative peer feedback, the specificity and affective nature of the peer comments supported pre-service teachers' in improving their TEL design were examined. The results showed that the peer feedback supported pre-service teachers in improving the quality of TEL design measured by the TPACK framework. It was found that feedback that raised concerns about the work and suggestive feedback facilitated the further improvement of the work. Elaborated feedback rather than verification feedback with short responses also affected the responses to the feedback. The implications on how online peer feedback support collaborative knowledge improvement are discussed.

Cultivating Iranian IELTS Candidates’ Writing Skills through Online Peer Feedback: A Mixed-Methods Inquiry

Though peer feedback has gained noticeable attention in second-language (L2) education in face-to-face classes, its effects on improving IELTS candidates’ writing performance have remained unexplored in the Iranian EFL context. Thus, the present study aims to reach a two-fold purpose. First, it investigates the effects of online peer feedback (OPF) on improving Iranian IELTS candidates’ writing performance. Second, it explores what the IELTS candidates’ perceptions are about the efficacy of online peer feedback to cultivate their writing performance in the Iranian EFL context. To these aims, having been homogenized through the Oxford Quick Placement Test (OQPT), a total of 35 IELTS candidates were randomly assigned into an experimental group and a control group. The two groups went through pretest, treatment, posttest, and delayed posttest procedures. To collect the required qualitative data, 5 participants of the experimental group participated in a focus group interview. The data were analyzed using a one-way ANCOVA and content analysis. Findings documented that the experimental group outperformed the control group on the posttest and delayed posttest. Additionally, the qualitative results revealed that the participants had positive attitudes toward the potentials of OPF to cultivate writing skills. The study ends with proposing a range of implications and suggestions for further research.