Comparison between Peer Feedback and Automated Feedback in College English Writing: A Case Study

Abstract

As written feedback is an indispensable component of instructing and learning process, the implementation of effective feedback plays a key role in improving non-English majors' writing skill. Peers and automated writing evaluation systems are new, main sources of feedback providers in college English writing. This paper compares three feedback conditions: individual and group modes in peer feedback and automated feedback. Analysis is made on distribution features from feedback types, dimensions of assessment rubric, aspects of organization and linguistic performance, and reflected attitudes. The findings indicate automated mode and group mode take turns dominating in non-corrective feedback and corrective feedback; group mode takes the lead in both direct and indirect feedback; individual, group and automated modes underemphasize global feedback. Dimensions are found to centre on linguistic performance, followed by organization, content and format, differences and similarities of specific aspects and attitudes are also found in all three modes. Further investigations are undertaken into students' perceptions towards peer feedback and automated feedback, with their respective merits and demerits summed up. On the basis of all the findings, key elements of sociocultural theory are explored to provide multi-dimensional feedback scaffolding for students of lower-intermediate level in facilitating college English writing.

Electronic Peer Feedback, EFL Academic Writing and Reflective Thinking: Evidence From a Confucian Context

“…As can be seen from the findings, students were hesitant in proving and receiving e-PF at the beginning of the course. This is because they do not consider e-PF providers as "knowledge authority" (Gielen et al, 2011) and they are influenced by the concept of face (Luo & Liu, 2017;Wang, 2016). Contrary to the results of Cheng et al (2015) that e-PF evokes negative psychological and emotional responses, the results show that Vietnamese students were found to become more comfortable in case of giving and receiving critique from their peers.…”

“…CHC students exhibit strong avoidance to comment and assess their peers' work due to the fear of destroying the harmonious relationship, provoking conflicts and hurting their friends (Chiu, 2009). For example, face culture hinders the provision of negative comments to peers among Chinese students, particularly voicing criticism and expressing disagreements (Luo & Liu, 2017;Wang, 2016;Zhan, 2019). In addition, CHC students prefer and respect feedback from teachers who are deemed to have a reliable source of knowledge and absolute authority (Li et al, 2010;Pham, 2010).…”

Students’ and Teacher’s Perceptions towards the Implementation of ProWritingAid and Teacher Feedback

“…Especially in reference to the students' errors in grammar, vocabulary, or spelling. This finding supports countless literature that claimed the students' positive responses of AWE program to help the students to locate errors in many linguistic aspects (Luo & Liu, 2017;Wei, 2015;Xu, 2018), learn from the explanation of the errors (Ritter, 2016;Wei, 2015) and overall to revise their texts to be better (Chen & Cheng, 2008;Nobuo, 2014). Meanwhile, having teacher feedback, the students can revise the meaning and content of their paragraphs more.…”

How Teacher and Grammarly Feedback Complement One Another in Myanmar EFL Students’ Writing

“…Providing such feedback, ranging from error correction to commentary feedback regarding rhetorical and content aspects of writing (Goldstein, 2004), is part of daily teaching practice (Lee, 2008(Lee, , 2009. In the dichotomy between feedback on form and content, written feedback can be classified into corrective and non-corrective feedback (Luo & Liu, 2017): corrective feedback (CF) promotes learning the target language by providing negative evidence and non-corrective feedback scaffolds English writing in aspects of content, organization, linguistic performance, and format. The focus of teacher feedback has been debated over the past 30 years, which have seen the proposal of Ashwell (2000) and Fathman and Whalley's (1990) recommendations that there should be a balance between feedback on form and meaning when providing feedback on students' writing.…”