Written peer-feedback to enhance students’ current and future learning

Abstract

Spanish universities are engaged in the implementation of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA). This process implies the use of the most effective instructional designs and methodologies in order to achieve deep learning, increase student involvement in their own development, and professional and personalgreater autonomy in the construction of knowledge. Peer-feedback is an effective strategy to reach such requirements. The study aimed to analyze the type of feedback students provide in peer-assessment in group work projects and to investigate students' perception towards peer-assessment for the improvement of the learning process. The methods were mixed. A semantic analysis of the type of feedback was conducted. A total of 637 feedback units were analysed according to the guidelines developed in the project. In addition, questionnaires to students and teachers involved in the experience were administrated. The results demonstrate that the great majority of feedback offered by students was related to task development, followed by feedback regarding the motivational aspects of the process and finally the structural and formal aspects of the writing. At the end of the process, both teachers and students declared that the feedback received helped them to better develop the task and support them in future learning.

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

“…By contrast, negative attitude (11.5%) declines but uncertain (13.1%) attitude rises. Data show the majority have affirmed the usefulness of peer feedback and automated feedback, confirming the finding in other studies (Zhou, 2013;Wei, 2015;Ion et al, 2016;Lu, 2016;Wang, 2016).…”

“…It is typical of student-centered L2 teaching and learning settings and often used in higher education (Wang, 2016;Ion et al, 2016 (O'Mahony et al, 2013;Wei, 2015), internalization of grammatical knowledge (Zhang, 2016) or better performance on content and linguistic performance (Zhou, 2013). Benefits from peer feedback are found to agree upon alleviation of anxiety, enhancement of self-regulated learning capability and critical thinking competence, increase of peer interactions and active participation, and improvement of overall writing skills (Tsui & Ng, 2000;Cai, 2011;Yu, 2013;Zhou, 2013;Forrer et al, 2015;Wei, 2015;Wang, 2016;Ion et al, 2016;Zhang, 2016).…”

“…It is typical of student-centered L2 teaching and learning settings and often used in higher education (Wang, 2016;Ion et al, 2016 (O'Mahony et al, 2013;Wei, 2015), internalization of grammatical knowledge (Zhang, 2016) or better performance on content and linguistic performance (Zhou, 2013). Benefits from peer feedback are found to agree upon alleviation of anxiety, enhancement of self-regulated learning capability and critical thinking competence, increase of peer interactions and active participation, and improvement of overall writing skills (Tsui & Ng, 2000;Cai, 2011;Yu, 2013;Zhou, 2013;Forrer et al, 2015;Wei, 2015;Wang, 2016;Ion et al, 2016;Zhang, 2016). In the meantime, problems are also detected from peer feedback: lack of trust or self-confidence (Xu & Ye, 2014;Wei, 2015;Wang, 2016), impact of face culture that hinders peers giving negative comment (Wei, 2015;Wang, 2016;Xin, 2016), insufficient L2 knowledge (Xu & Ye, 2014;Wang, 2015;Xin, 2016), inadequate ability to implement assessment rubrics (Wei, 2015;Xin, 2016), critical thinking deficiency and incomplete, less-reliable feedback (Bai, 2012;Zhou, 2013;Wang, 2015;Li & Ye, 2016;Wei, 2016;Xin, 2016), all the weaknesses impairing its efficacy.…”

Strengthening dialogic peer feedback aiming for deep learning in SPOCs

“…Thus, students are offered the opportunity not only to reflect on the work of their peers, but also on their own work, which over time can lead to increased learning (Ertmer et al, 2007). And despite the evidence that peer feedback has advantages for students, authors such as Ion, Barrera-Corominas, and Tomàs-Folch (2016) state that student training in feedback skills may strengthen the advantages even more. Hewett (2000) and Tuzi (2004) examined the use of feedback in online education, although not specifically aimed at deep learning.…”

The contributions of mixed insights to advancing technology-enhanced formative assessments within higher education learning environments: an illustrative example

“…The advancements made by Ha and Finkelstein (2013) are an excellent starting place for further quantitative study of the student perspective of the impact of ARS and its use for informing instructional decisions. It is important not to exclude other types of my consideration of effectiveness in this study, for example while peer interactions are often less timely than ARS or practice quizzes, written peer feedback remains a useful tool for supporting learning (Ion, Barrera-Corominas, & Tomàs-Folch, 2016).…”